Historical Posts Archives - Page 15 of 378 - Mount Washington Observatory

November 2019

November, the Quiet Season

2019-11-09 13:32:33.000 – Adam Gill, Weather Observer/IT Specialist

November on the summit is always a quite month. With not much going on, the need for volunteers goes away due to how little needs to be done. All of the winter preparations are finished in October, the building is closed down so there are no tours, and the winter is just beginning so we don’t have as much snow shoveling or de-icing to do. This leaves us with weather observations and our projects that we are working on. The total staff that is staying overnight is down to just 4 people.

Volunteers are usually responsible for cooking dinner and helping keep the living quarters clean in exchange for being able to stay on the summit for a week at a time. This really helps us out during the day since during the summer, there are nine staff staying overnight and then during winter trip season, there are a few days a week with as many as 17 people staying overnight. That is a lot to cook for after you finish a 12 hour day. At this time of year, it is fun to go down and start making something at 3 or 4 in the afternoon between observations after you have had enough of working on a project. It helps change it up a bit.

Over the last 4 years, these weeks have proved to me that I am a better cook than I thought I was. Everyone has to cook at least twice a week when we have no volunteers, so when I was an intern, the days I had to cook were very daunting. Since then, I have started to cook much more often in my off weeks and have really gotten comfortable with it so now I look forward to the nights that I get to cook.

It is also great to get a feel for the kitchen so when we have new volunteers come up in the summer, we are able to do a much better job of showing them the ropes or where everything is in the kitchen. The one frustrating thing about cooking up here is when you do not have an ingredient since we cannot just run to the store to pick something up. Luckily google is your best friend and many times we will have the ingredients to make a mock of whatever spice or sauce that you need. Though by the end of the week, much of the fresh vegetables are running low or out so you have to get creative with what you are making.

Adam Gill, Weather Observer/IT Specialist

Coming to a Valley Near You: Snow!

2019-11-02 10:20:17.000 – Thomas Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist

Over the past few days we’ve received a few inquiries as to when the surrounding valleys will see their first snowfall. For many, the start of November means ski season is right around the corner and people are itching to break out the skis for the first time this season. For the local area especially here in the White Mountains, by Thanksgiving the ski season is hopefully fully underway as this is an important part of the tourism-driven economy in the region. Taking a look at the weather for the week ahead there’s some good news for those looking for the start of winter, especially in the mountains.

500 mb height anomaly showing a large scale trough (blue shading) across the Northeast, which will remain in place through the upcoming week. Image courtesy of Tropical Tidbits.

Glancing at the large scale ridge and trough pattern over the next week, a broad mid and upper level ridge will be building across the western U.S, and a trough will build and likely strengthen from the upper Midwest through New England. This is a set up for overall cooler than average temperatures for our area, and generally weak but fast moving systems like the clipper systems we often see during winter. Another thing to keep in mind is with it being fall and the Great Lakes being completely ice-free, lake effect precipitation (rain or snow) can be amplified and spill over into the White Mountains due to the added warmth of the lakes.

With below average temperatures from the upper level pattern, plenty of cold air will be in place especially here on Mount Washington at 6,000 feet. The summit will likely be below freezing through the entire week, allowing any and all precipitation to fall in the form of snow up here. Sunday and Monday a pair of weak disturbances will be just close enough to the area to produce some flurries, although accumulations will be very light (generally less than an inch) and confined to elevations above 3,000 feet.

GFS surface analysis for Thursday night showing potential snowfall across a large portion of northern New England and NY. Image courtesy of Tropical Tidbits.

Tuesday a slightly stronger cold front will allow for more widespread snowfall, and this system will also have the benefit of timing. With the system mostly crossing late in the day and overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, temperatures will likely be near freezing all the way down to the valleys. Towns in the northern half of NH, VT, and Maine will potentially wake up Wednesday morning to snow-covered lawns for the first time this fall, offering at least a taste of the winter to come.

How much snow are we looking at? This won’t be a significant storm system by any means, but as mentioned it’s at least a taste of winter. With the long duration of below freezing temperatures expected this week at higher elevations, many area ski resorts will be able to get a jump start on the season and possibly even open soon. Overnight temperatures will allow for snow making and then hopefully getting a little extra help from mother nature Tuesday night.

Potential total snowfall from 11/2 through next Saturday, 11/9 from the GFS model. Some of the higher elevations of the Green, White and Adirondack Mountains may see upwards of 6 inches of new snow spread over the week ahead. Image courtesy of Tropical Tidbits.

After a brief break Wednesday, there’s actually another clipper-like system Thursday into Friday. This system also should have a good deal of cold air in place ahead of the storm, and even more so behind it with snow shower activity lingering in the mountains. Several additional inches of snow could add up here from this system if it pans out. Either way, for the higher elevations of the White Mountains we have multiple chances on the horizon for accumulating snowfall, with little if any melt outs in between storms. For us here on the summit of Mount Washington, this is the first real stretch of weather to start building our natural snowpack, and the first long stretch of wintry weather!

Thomas Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist

Recent Ice Storm

2019-10-29 19:51:32.000 – Adam Gill, Weather Observer/IT Specialist

This past weekend we ended up getting a pretty good ice storm up here on the summit. We were originally expecting to get some snow or sleet initially before transitioning to rain in the afternoon. I was on morning observations during the beginning of the storm and was outside when the precipitation first began. The air temperature was 23 degrees so with the line of precipitation moving in, I was waiting for the first snowflakes to start coming down. Instead, I was hit by several drops of rain. I waited to see if it would transition to sleet as the rain got heavier but alas, it stayed all liquid.

The inversion ended up being just above summit level for the entire day with temperatures only getting up to near 28 during the bulk of the precipitation. We did not get above freezing until after sunset and it was a sharp increase in temperature, jumping almost 6 degrees in one hour. Here is the temperature profile from the Gray Maine weather balloon launch Sunday. There is a distinctive warm later aloft, right at about 7000 feet. It also explains why we had such a sharp increase in temperature once the inversion mixed down to summit level.

The weather balloon launch from Gray Maine during our ice storm

It was an impressive amount of glaze ice that developed from the freezing rain. I have seen a few larger events than this one. If the winds were stronger with this event, ice accumulations would have been higher.

The summit sign with a thick coat of glaze ice.

It is always really cool to see the summit coated in glaze ice. I am used to rime ice which is opaque and makes for a very wintery look. Everything coated in glaze ice is shiny and kind of looks like a glazed donut outside. Which luckily our volunteers have made plenty of treats because it made me hungry for donuts every time I went out for the observation, especially when we had peaks of sun that made the ice glisten.

The next unusual thing that happened this weekend was after we cleared from the clouds on Monday. The air above the cloud deck was very warm so after clearing from the clouds and a complete undercast formed, the temperatures shot up, well above what was forecasted. The daytime highs were expected to be in the upper 30’s being at the top of the cloud layer but the high was a little stronger than forecasted. The sinking air associated with the high pressure pushed the top of the clouds below summit level. Here is the sounding from Monday afternoon, also from Gray Maine, showing that distinct warm layer starting at about 5000 feet. This means that we were having the nice weather and the valleys were seeing clouds and drizzle.

The data from the weather balloon launch at 7 PM October 28th showing the strong inversion aloft that gave us such warm temperatures on Mindat October 28th.

Adam Gill, Weather Observer/IT Specialist

Nights On The Mountain

2019-10-25 17:01:13.000 – Ben Charles, Summit Intern

During my time here as an intern for the Observatory, I have performed many different tasks throughout the day. Typically in a normal day in the life of an intern, I wake up to read the forecast on the morning AMC radio, continue to work on my research project, write the daily evening higher summits forecast, and one of the most exciting parts is getting to shadow observers during their observations. Shadowing day observers for a few shifts has really fueled my curiosity and interest in the observation process. When making hourly observations with the observers I am trying to grow accustomed to judging cloud heights, cloud cover, and visibility. But I couldn’t help but wonder how these observations are done at night, as well as other duties of a night observer. So I decided to stay up with our night observer Jay Broccolo, to shadow him for the first half of the night.

I learned a lot in the short amount of time I spent shadowing Jay. To begin the night, he showed me something he has to do every night which is something called weekly and daily checks. Weekly and daily check is done to assure that our observations were written down and submitted error-free. It is a very important process that can be difficult at times due to the immense amount of observations being double and triple checked. Although the checks seem to be tedious at times it was also very interesting to watch as this is when the daily averages, total precipitation, and peak winds are all calculated and submitted.

When we weren’t looking over past observations, we would continue to go out every hour where I shadowed Jay doing night observations. Doing observations at night it a whole new beast. Determining visibility is completely different than during the day, typically during the day looking for different mountains on the horizon is how we gauge our visibility however at night the night observers look for lights from different cities in the area as well as different windmill farms that have red blinking lights. Night observations are usually a bit more difficult to determine cloud height and cover especially when there is little moon or city lights to reflect off the clouds. Night observations may seem difficult at first however our night observers have grown accustomed to these conditions and continue or ever-growing database by making accurate observations every hour.

Another really cool thing that the night observer gets to do is change the Hay’s chart every night at midnight(EST). Just as a reminder this is our circular paper chart that records the pressure of the wind on top of the tower for a 24 hour period. Jay showed me the important process he goes through every night on how to properly change the chart quickly and precisely. This ensures the chart being taken down is not damaged and that the new chart being put up is being replaced in a timely manner so little to no data is missed in the replacement process. After the charts are changed the Hay’s chart that was taken down is marked with hourly wind speeds, wind directions, and the daily peak gust eventually being added to our database.

By this time I had been up for a very long time and could barely keep my eyes open so I decided to hit the hay. Now being the next morning and reflecting on my experience I truly learned a lot about night observations and what our night observers do on a daily bases, and can’t wait to shadow Jay again. Our night observers do a lot of behind the scenes work on top of the observations that help keep the observatory running like a well-oiled machine and deserve a well-needed round of applause.

Ben Charles, Summit Intern

Comparing October 2018 and 2019

2019-10-21 13:37:27.000 – Thomas Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist

With the month of October already nearing a close I thought I’d take a look back at how this relatively mild start to our fall season compares to right around this time last year. Although we’ve finally recorded our first significant snowfall of the month this past week, we’re still only at a measly 6.6” of snowfall for the month. In reality, the month of October averages 18” of snow and we could end up right around average with another 10 days to go. Still, this feels like it’s way behind compared to last year, and it is, but last year really was exceptional and started an impressively snowy and windy winter season. October often sees dramatic change from the beginning of the month to the end, and there’s still time for this month to end out on a snowy end (more on this later).

The view from Cragway Turn (4,800 ft) showing widespread snow cover across Boot Spur and the surrounding terrain on 10-31-2018. This was the first Snowcat trip of the season for our crew, this year we have not even required chains for a shift change yet!

Last year actually started out even more mild than this year, with an impressive 9-day stretch of well above average temperatures with daytime highs in the 50s from the 3^rd through 11^th. This was due to a large upper-level ridge of high pressure. By the middle of the month, it was almost as if we hit a switch and turned on winter. A series of cold fronts carved out a large-scale trough across the Northeast, resulting in much colder temperatures bottoming out in the single digits above, with 10” of snow falling in just a week’s time by the 20^th. Comparing that to this year we’re actually about even, but instead of seeing a thaw out or return to near average conditions a massive snowstorm plunged the summit into winter for good, with 3 feet of snow falling over a four day period from Oct 23^rd to 27^th 2018. October 2018 ended with 52” of snow for the month, a surplus of nearly 3 feet!

GFS Model showing a potentially powerful storm across affecting our part of the country on Halloween Day, 10-31

Unfortunately for snow lovers there isn’t anything nearly of that magnitude on the immediate horizon, although there’s at least a small chance 10 days out. Our next chance for snowfall of at least an inch will occur this weekend, when the models have routinely had a weak wave of low pressure crossing New England with just enough cold air in place for snow across the higher elevations. Right around Halloween a much more robust storm system has been in the models for several runs now. Unfortunately, the storm intensifies well to our west across the Great Lakes, resulting in heavy rainfall at the onset of the storm. On the backside of the storm, there may be a period of heavy snow if things line up properly with the track, and precipitation doesn’t end too early. But again, this is 10 days out so we’ll have to wait several days before taking this too seriously. Check back in around this time next week, perhaps we’ll be gearing up for another round of 100 mph winds, heavy snow, and the all-around weather Mount Washington is famous for!

Fresh snowfall across the northern Presidentials 10-19-2019

Thomas Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist

Recapping Our First Major Storm of the Fall

2019-10-19 13:03:41.000 – Thomas Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist

The past few days have the seen the first real winter-like conditions here on the summit in this month of October. Our return to winter (for now) is due in part to an impressive coastal storm that my co-worker Jay posted a great blog leading up to. The storm was notable in my mind for its very strong easterly winds, extremely low pressure, and also some pretty horrendous icing conditions on our tower!

The strongest winds were on the front end of the storm, where a low level jet maximum was located. Mount Washington seemed to just miss out on the core of these winds, which remained a bit further south and east of the area. Despite this, winds were still quite impressive for the time of year, peaking at 128 mph around 5:30 AM Thursday morning. During the several hours leading up to the peak gust freezing rain, fog, and 100+ mph winds led to 1-2 feet of solid glaze ice on our tower. This ice was very difficult to remove due to the wind direction, and once it was dislodged we had to be very careful to make sure no one was downwind where that ice was now quickly heading!

Intern Laura Kee holds a large block of rime ice on top of the tower after clearing the morning of 10-19. Ice of this size or larger was being knocked off the tower each hour yesterday!

The majority of the day Thursday the center of the powerful storm stalled near Lake Winnipesaukee, with winds decreasing as the storm slowly filled in and weakened. Temperatures climbed just above freezing and stalled there for most of the day, thankfully bringing an end to the freezing rain and switching things over to plain rain. By the early evening the system began drifting offshore very slowly, allowing for colder air to move back in and light rain showers to change to light snow showers. The warm side of the storm had now passed, and our first real taste of winter was about to begin.

By the time I had awoken Friday morning around 5:30 AM it felt like we did a fast forward to January, with the familiar hum (to me at least) of hurricane force winds outside and the clinking of night observer Ryan de-icing the top of the tower. This morning temperatures were well below freezing at 24°F, with heavy riming conditions and snow falling instead of the freezing rain from the day before. Winds were already gusting over 100 mph by the time I began my observations, but increased further by 7 AM with the peak gust of 114 mph from the NW occurring shortly after 7:30 AM. The riming conditions during the morning were right up there with some of the worst I’ve ever seen in my 7 years on the summit, at one point accumulating at a rate of nearly 6 inches of ice in a single hour.

Intern Laura stands next to several feet of rime ice for scale, and enthusiasm!

After clearing out of the clouds early this morning, we’ve finally been able to take in the scenery and also snap some photos now that the winds are lessening. The summit picked up an impressive amount of ice along with 4.3” of new snow, making it look much more like the winter season than October. With temperatures expected to warm into the 30s today and even 40s by Sunday this snow and ice will likely be gone by the end of the weekend. For now, it’s a beautiful reminder of the winter season to come!

Thomas Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist

First Big Storm Of The Season And It’s Looking To Be A Doozy

2019-10-15 06:51:36.000 – Jay Broccolo, Weather Observer/Meteorologist

Wednesday night into Thursday there will be two areas of low pressure that will merge and potentially undergo explosive development or bombogenesis, meaning that it will likely fall 24 mbars in pressure within 24 hours. The forecasting challenge with these types of setups is that one of the areas of low pressure will likely rapidly develop off the coast of New Jersey and race up along the coast within 24 hours of developing. As of 00z on Tuesday, this developing Low won’t form into a closed Low for another 48 hours (overnight Wednesday). Once it develops, forecasters will have a much better idea of what will happen, as far as local effects are concerned. As for the summit of Mount Washington, it will depend on where the two systems merge and how close the center of the merged Low is relative to the White Mountains. If it forms to the southwest over CT and Mass then the summits will likely see sustained wind speeds of 100+ mph with gusts of 130+ and potentially even higher! This scenario would prove to be most exciting for us, and you, if you tune in. If the newly merged center forms at all to the east of the Whites then we will still see some initial high winds but not as impressive. The highest winds for the latter scenario would occur on the backside of the system as it heads out into the Gulf of Maine. Either way, it will be an impressive storm producing a significant icing event with several types of precipitation, high winds, and exciting moments for sure. In the meantime, let’s look at a handful model runs to see what is causing this powerful storm to develop and intensify.

The area of low pressure that will develop and rapidly intensify off the coast of New Jersey is caused by a whole mess of factors, but a few really stick out to me which I have researched and found to be large contributing factors. I’m going to let the diagrams and pretty colors do most of the describing here so I don’t turn this into a case study and get carried away. Below, is the Thursday 00z 850 mbar Geopotential Height and Cyclonic Vorticity (localized rotation of the air). Where there is strong cyclonic vorticity advection, meaning the localized area of rotation is stretching to the surface, there is a deepening in the surface low. This is seen in the deep red color just off the coast of New Jersey. This is where the surface low will develop and ultimately intensify into quite the storm.

GFS 850 mbar Geopotential Height (dam) and Cyclonic Vorticity (10-5 s1) 00z Thursday

What is causing this area of vorticity? Well, there is air entering the base of the trough and that air is relatively warmer and more humid than its surrounding environment. You can see the wind direction by looking at the wind barbs in either the Geopotential Height plot above or the 10-meter wind plot below. I’ll show you in the next two plots of 2-meter temperatures and 10-meter winds for the same time of Thursday 00Z that these two differing air masses are colliding with each other and producing a fascinating phenomena.

GFS 2-m temperature (F) at 00z Thursday

GFS 10-m Wind Speeds (knots) at 00z Thursday

For the 10- meter wind speed plot you can not only see a southern air mass entering the trough from the south, but where the green elevated wind speeds are, westerly flow is converging with southerly flow. If we refer back to the 2-meter temperature plot, the westerly flow is much cooler than the southerly flow and is undercutting the warm southerly flow. This is a good example of a Cold Conveyor Belt in which cold temperatures help to lift the humid warm air aloft. The southerly warm flow is called the Warm Conveyor Belt.

Okay, now lets pull it all together. One of my favorite plots to use in Northeastern Extra-Tropical Cyclones is a Theta-E plot or Equivalent Potential Temperature. Think of it as an indicator of latent heat release which will be described in detail in the next Windswept, if you are a member! Sorry for the promotion, but it was a good time to plug it in. I digress, latent heat release is essentially the stored heat as water changes phases between vapor to liquid to snow or ice. That heat is released into the atmosphere, which then furthers the uplift, advects the cyclonic vorticity towards the surface, and in turn deepens the surface low, while providing plenty of moisture for it snow!!!

GFS Theta-E (K) at 00z Thursday

Isn’t it great how all of this lines up perfectly?! Stay tuned for the most recent forecast at the Observatory’s Higher Summits Forecast Page!

Shout out to https://tropicaltidbits.com, https://weathermodels.com, and https://weather.cod.edu/forecast/ for their wonderful plots.

Jay Broccolo, Weather Observer/Meteorologist

Founder’s Day 2019!

2019-10-11 17:29:51.000 – Ian Bailey, Weather Observer/Education Specialist

Founders Day for the Observatory is just around the corner; Tuesday, October 15th! On that day, 87 years ago, Alex McKenzie, Robert Scott Monahan, Salvatore Pagliuca, Joe Dodge and Tikky the Cat picked up where the U.S. Signal Corps had left off, braved the intense weather conditions and started a weather record that has stood the test of time. With their trusty Sling Psychrometers and their Mercury Barometers set just right, they laid out a legacy that we have proudly continued to this day!

Conditions on the summit and in the early Observatory were a bit different than they are now, especially considering what the first Observatory was set in. Now known as the Stage Office, this relatively small wooden structure was (and still is) held down to the summit by heavy metal chains. Anchored in and holding on to the summit for dear life, this sturdy structure withstood some intense weather. It even held (mostly) during the incredible 231 mph “Big Wind” event in April of 1934.

Inside the Observatory, space was at a premium with a fully stocked supply of food, coal and other provisions, along with tools and instrumentation to last through the long winter. Dinner was family-style (and still is today), held by oil lamp light (not so much today) with what pleasant conversation could be had amidst the roaring winds. With plenty of observations to take and projects to work on, it was a lot of good, hard work for these early Citizen Scientists! And all of that work became the foundation for what the Observatory has evolved into today!

We have grown quite a bit over the last 87 years, and have been here to witness some very impressive storms! We posted a listing of some of our biggest landmark events of our history a few years back, and I decided to update it for this year! Check this out!

1934: A wind speed of 231 MPH was recorded on April 12th by the Mount Washington Observatory, the fastest surface wind speed ever recorded up until 1996

1947: Our lowest ever temperature was recorded at -47°F

1954: Hurricane Carol made landfall in southern New England and passed very close to Mount Washington, producing a wind gust of 142 MPH and nearly 4″ of rain.

1957: Our record snowfall total for the month of July was recorded at 1.1″

1968-1969: Our snowiest winter season, with a grand total of 566.4″

1975: In August, our warmest temperature of 72°F was recorded for the first time.

2003: In June, our warmest temperature of 72°F was recorded for the second time.

2006: A wind speed of 158 MPH was recorded, one of the highest gusts of the 21st century.

2011: The remnants of Hurricane Irene passed directly over the summit, dropping 6.66″ of rain and producing wind speeds in excess of 120 MPH.

2012: Hurricane Sandy’s landfall in NJ produced its highest gust over 400 miles away on the summit of Mount Washington, at 140 MPH

2015: The President’s Day Storm produced sustained winds around 140 MPH, temperatures as low as -35º F, and wind chills at a bone chilling -90ºF.

2019: An incredible low pressure system advanced along the St. Lawrence River and blasted the summit with a 171 MPH gust, the strongest winds recorded in the last 35 years.

And over these crazy 87 years, we’ve improved quite a bit! We’ve enhanced our measurement methods and research practices, product tested and incorporated new technology (like the GE Pitot and the soon-to-be-constructed-and-updated Weather Wall), and have shared our observations and knowledge with the world through Edutrips, Streamable Learning Programs and Tours. However, even with all the change and growth you’ll still find our hardy Observers on the deck, every hour, trusty Sling Psychrometer in hand and Mercury Barometer set to go, taking the observation just like our Founders did all those years ago…

You can celebrate our Founders Day with us! We have plenty of fun activities going on both here on the summit and down in the valley on Monday, October 14th! Here at the Obs, you can sign up for a tour down in our Extreme Mount Washington Museum to get a behind-the-scenes look at life and work here on the top of New England! With juice and baked good as well! And down in the valley at the Weather Discovery Center, there will be free admission into the museum from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm! There will even be free Live from the Rockpile connections at 11:00 am, 12:00 pm and 2:00 pm where you can connect live up here to the summit with me, and I’ll show you the ropes regarding all of our important work! Don’t worry, as they’ll have juice and cookies too!

It’s going to be a wonderful day of celebrating the Observatory and all of the hard work that’s been done over the last 87 years. Thank you to everyone who has stood with us all along this journey, supporting the Observatory through membership, fundraising and countless hours of volunteer work. Your dedication has been an incredible help that has been truly instrumental in our success. And with your continued passion and commitment, we’ll be able to press on and keep working hard for many years to come!

I hope that you’ll join us to celebrate on Tuesday, and we’ll be looking forward to seeing you soon!

Ian Bailey, Weather Observer/Education Specialist

Testing Webcam Live-Streaming

2019-10-07 05:43:27.000 – Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist

When I started working here back in late 2005, we had four webcams available to view – our Observation Deck cam, our North View cam, our West View cam, and our Ravines cam (now known as the Wildcat cam). The Observation Deck webcam was mounted in a heated box up in our instrument tower and looked out toward our east over the New Hampshire State Park Sherman Adams Building observation deck and points beyond. Our North View cam is located in a heated box in a room adjacent to our weather office and looks out over the northern summits of the Presidential Range. Our West View cam is in a non-heated box in our weather office and looks out towards Mt Lafayette, Bretton Woods, and points beyond. And our Ravines cam was mounted in the old gondola building which once resided on the summit of Wildcat Mountain.

MWO Webcam Page When I started in 2005

When I started, these cameras captured and posted an image every 15 minutes or so when our network and internet connection to the valley was working. Images were adequate at the time but by today’s standards, they would be considered low-resolution. And even though three of them were in heated enclosures, there were times when the windows or domes they were looking out would rime up and the view would just be a wall of white. And since all of these were mounted well above ground-level, we were unable to reach them to remove ice, so it would be up to Mother Nature to clear things off for us.

As technology evolved and became more affordable, we were able to expand to additional off-summit sites installing one on Bretton Woods providing a view of the mountain from the west. We then had a fundraising effort to expand to two additional views – one from Attitash Mountain Resort which provided a view of the mountain from the south and one in Jackson, NH providing a view from the southeast. And the most recent addition was a cam attached to the Mt Washington State Park Sherman Adams building providing a view of our Observation tower as well as the summit sign (must be a member to view).

Wecam Views From/Of Mount Washington

Through various donations along with technology evolving and becoming more affordable, we have been able to purchase and upgrade the cameras which also allowed us to add additional features for members of our Organization to enjoy. When we upgraded a few of them we gained the ability to zoom in on features, so we started to add zoomed in images of popular summits and ravines. A more reliable connection and faster transfer rates allowed us to update the images more frequently. We added the ability for sunrise and sunset timelapses first on the summit cameras then expanded them out to be included to all webcams. We then added full-day timelapse video capabilities to all our cameras. A few of them have been upgraded to High Definition quality with a couple having good low-light capabilities allowing us to capture upwards of an hour before sunrise and an hour after sunset. And our Wildcat camera gained a high quality zooming camera allowing even better zoomed in views of popular locations on our east side. And now we are in beta testing our newest feature – live streaming webcams.

The two webcams that we are testing live-streaming with are our Wildcat cam and our Observation Deck cam. Live-stream testing at the moment is open to the public and is being utilized to work out any bugs or glitches, gauge interest, and assess the costs of supplying real time live views of our cameras. Both of them are a temporary feature during our testing phase and both have additional information to review below the live-streams. And while we are testing, your feedback is important! You can CLICK HERE to use the “Contact Us” to let us know what you think (this page is also linked at the top of each of the webcam pages). So, please enjoy the views and we hope to hear your feedback so we can offer this as a perk to our members in the not so distant future.

Looking across Pinkham Notch at sunrise on Oct 6, 2019

Looking Across Pinkham Notch At Our Wildcat Cam At Sunrise Oct 6th

Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist

First Rime of the Season

2019-10-06 14:14:41.000 – Laura Kee, Summit Intern

Already in my first week and a half on the summit, I have been lucky enough to experience a wide range of exciting weather phenomena, which has given me a great taste of what is yet to come as fall transitions into winter. The most recent one of which included experiencing rime ice for the first time! This is something I had heard about (and seen lots of pictures of) but seeing it for yourself is quite amazing. When I stepped outside onto the observation deck in the morning, the sun was shining on the snow and ice that encased the summit and it made me feel as though I had stepped into a winter wonderland. I was finally able to see my first glimpse of rime ice!

When clouds envelope the summit and temperatures on the surface are below freezing, rime ice is able to form. When liquid water droplets come in contact with an object, they freeze and form this beautiful, feather-like type of ice that can build up along any surface (on rocks, the sides of buildings and along railings). Rime ice is typically opaque rather than clear due to the fact that the water droplets are freezing instantaneously upon contact (in spheres that trap little air bubbles). As those individual droplets collide with different surfaces, the ice builds up in the direction that the wind is coming from, so it makes for a very picturesque scene.

Rime ice covers the railings as the sun sets over the summit.

From preliminary data, it looks like the occurrence of rime ice this year (on October 5^th) was the latest that the summit had experienced its first riming of the season. De-icing the instruments on the top of the tower became necessary as the temperature dropped to 15°F, which was the coldest of the season so far. I’m really glad to have gotten the chance to experience the first rime ice event!

Laura Kee, Summit Intern

Previous 141516 Next

November 2019

November, the Quiet Season

Coming to a Valley Near You: Snow!

October 2019

Recent Ice Storm

Nights On The Mountain

Comparing October 2018 and 2019

Recapping Our First Major Storm of the Fall

First Big Storm Of The Season And It’s Looking To Be A Doozy

Founder’s Day 2019!

Testing Webcam Live-Streaming

First Rime of the Season