News

The 86th Anniversary of the “Big Wind” 2020-04-10 15:57:06.000 - Eric Kelsey, MWO Lead Research Scientist   Eighty-six years ago, five men holed-up in a small wooden structure atop Mount Washington contemplated the question, “Will they believe it?” These five men, alongside three cats and a litter of five kittens less than a week old, witnessed the fastest wind speed ever recorded on Earth: 231 mph. The storm that came through on that historic day, 12 April 1934, surprised everyone with its incredible power. The skies just two days before were crystal clear and the winds were unusually light. Around

Warm and Dry Feet in Spring 2020-04-06 20:28:33.000 - Rebecca Scholand, Summit Operations Manager   Mud season on the summit of Mount Washington isn’t as muddy as you would think. Because the summit is primarily composed of rocks and gravel frozen in snow and ice, when spring begins, it takes on the characteristics of a giant puddle. Add a warmer day when precipitation is in liquid form and trapped from running off the result is a parking lot sized, deep puddle formation. There isn’t much that we can do with the standing water and so it creates an obstacle in

A Note About Our Afternoon Forecasts 2020-04-03 16:22:08.000 - MWO Staff, Mount Washington Observatory   At this time, Mount Washington Observatory has decided to suspend our afternoon Higher Summit’s Forecast in both written and recorded forms. The decision has been made in an effort to discourage backcountry travel and support the closures of the backcountry areas. Our morning forecasts will still be provided, as this weather information is important to the general public’s use close to home, educational purposes, and decision making for valley entities. We look forward to resuming normal operations in the future and will keep you up

Home of the World's Worst Weather Live! 2020-03-30 14:09:36.000 - Rebecca Scholand, Summit Operations Manager   It’s nothing new that the Mount Washington Observatory is committed to education. In fact, part of our mission is to advance the understanding of the natural systems that create Earth’s weather and Climate. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing schools to close nationwide we hit the drawing board to create a virtual classroom. Starting today, we are offering free distance learning programs three times a week to support educators in providing remote learning opportunities from the “Home of the World’s Worst Weather”. Utilizing

METAR Code: How it led to a Unique Social Distancing Selfie 2020-03-23 21:08:24.000 - Rebecca Scholand, Summit Operations Manager   METAR: Meteorological Terminal Aviation Routine Weather Report   Every hour of every day the Mount Washington Observatory issues a METAR observation from the summit. It is these observations that get disseminated through the Aviation Digital Data Service. Yesterday was like any other day on the summit, but the weather being recorded precipitated into one of the more unique social distancing selfies. Let me explain...   Aviation and weather have been a large part of my life since I was a

An Update on My Internship 2020-03-08 15:38:00.000 - Eve Cinquino, Summit Intern   Intern Eve Cinquino here! I’m about half way through my time on the Rockpile, and it’s been an incredible experience so far. I’ve learned so much about weather forecasting (I studied physics in college, so I’ll happily talk to you about quantum mechanics, but I still don’t know the different types of clouds), experienced 100+ mph winds (did you see the video of me blowing around the deck the other day??), and gotten to know some really awesome people (and one very fluffy cat)! I’ve also been

First Week on the Summit! 2020-03-03 21:06:19.000 - David DeCou, Weather Observer     Greetings from the Summit of Mount Washington! My name is David DeCou, and I am the new Night Observer in training here at the Observatory. I originally grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and spent the last few months of my life working in Antarctica at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station as a Weather Observer. It has been an exciting week of many firsts for me, and I don’t think anything could have prepared me for my amazing experiences here during my first time on the

Why the East Wind Busted my Forecast and The Reason for the Rapid East to West Wind Shift for Thursday’s Low 2020-03-02 17:29:10.000 - Caleb Buchler, Summit Intern   Our shift started off with winds less than five mph! I found it hard to believe the next day we would be experiencing gusts around the century mark. Mount Washington made me forget how quickly it can change its mood. On Wednesday, while creating my forecast with our new observer Dave, I explained to him that strong winds out of the East are often gustier than our predominant winds from the

Our Shift Is Whole Again! 2020-02-29 19:04:06.000 - Ian Bailey, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   It has been another week of crazy winter weather here on the summit! High winds, lots of snow, low visibility; the typical Mount Washington Winter Experience. But outside the weather, it has been a very pleasant and exciting week as well! For the first time since the beginning of January, we have a full crew! I’ll let him speak for himself when he posts later this week, but it has been such a pleasure meeting and working with David! He came in to the Obs from

It's Cold! 2020-02-14 14:53:31.000 - Caleb Buchler, Summit Intern   We experienced a small snow event Wednesday night into Thursday this week where we saw only 2 to 3 inches on the summit. Some models were predicting a much heavier event but with a strong upper-level jet streak hanging out over New England, the system passed through very quickly. By mid-morning Thursday, the low pressure system had already moved Northeast over Nova Scotia. Lingering up-slope snow showers continued on the backside of the storm throughout the day with the heaviest portion of the storm being short-lived. I am still waiting