We are back!

2007-06-28 08:21:07.000 – Ken Rancourt,  Meteorologist

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Thursday – the day after Wednesday. Wednesdays are typically very long days for the summit crew. The weekly food shopping is done early in the morning by one of the upcoming staff, we gather at the base and get all of the upgoing gear into the van, and head up. And then it gets busy.

Summer is not bad – the trip up is quick, but then we all go into the Shift Change Meeting which can last a number of hours. (Add into that some phone calls, Polycoms to the valley, and lunch(!) and the time adds up.) We were able to get the RWDI Icing Experiment off of the Deck before the downgoing shift departed, so look at the DeckCam and see — nothing but fog. This task may have been completed too early as (Intern) Dan Harnos is telling me to watch out for freezing temperatures again by Saturday morning. This is June you know…. I guess no one told him.

While temperatures in the valley stay warm and it remains quite humid, conditions are changing up here. We had a very strong early morning rain shower move through, and winds gusted up to 83 MPH. The shower was short lived — it lasted only about 4 minutes — but it dropped 0.47 inches of rain. A cold front lies to our west, and this shower preceeded it. There may be more to follow, especially after the sun gets high enough to add to the instability and gives the atmosphere the additional boost it needs to build some serious cumulus. We will see what happens soon enough. The front should be through here by dinner time and perhaps we will get to see a sunset tonight. That would be a nice way to start the week.

Ken Rancourt,  Meteorologist