Turn the heat up! Wait; it’s already cranked.

2012-03-21 22:45:42.000 – Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist

Northern Prezis in May…err…March

Today was a near-historic day on the summit.

The theme of the past few comments has been very consistent-it’s unseasonably warm. I’m sure that point has been hammered home, whether you’ve experienced it first hand or not.However, there’s a difference between just eeking out new records, which is normally the case during a stretch of unseasonable weather, and completely shattering them.

Our record high for today was a mere 43F. So far today (with only a scant few hours left), we have not fallen BELOW this figure. That’s right–our daily low temperature today has not fallen below the record HIGH for the day. That’s quite a feat.

But wait…I have more for you:

Our all-time record high for the month of March was 54F set back on March 31st, 1998. During the observation I took at 2:52 PM EDT this afternoon, I recorded a temperature of 53.5F, tieing this all-time record for the month of March. That gives a good picture of just how unusual this mild stretch is.

During shift change today, we managed to make it up just past the 4-mile marker of the Auto Road with a truck/van with chains. Even though we hopped in the Snow Cat for the balance of the trip, it was only really necessary for two small sections of the road. There is plenty of bare pavement across the top half of the road already.

The snow pack–if it can be referred to as such anymore–has been reduced to patches and drifts scattered about the summit, which will experience one more day of mild temperatures on Thursday before a turn back towards typical late March weather. Even so, temperatures this time of year average in the upper teens, and the models are suggesting the summit won’t dip that low until next week, at the earliest. We’ve even been able to open the sub door far earlier than in season’s past.

Being a lover of summertime, I am thrilled with this earlier-than-normal-by-two-months transformation of the landscape from winter to summer. Sorry if you disagree, but it is also extremely exciting to witness as a meteorologist as well!

Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist