News

All I Want For Christmas is...More Snow! 2020-12-21 14:55:30.000 - Sam Robinson, Weather Observer/Engineer   Today is the winter solstice so I figured it would be a good day to write about snow. At the time of writing, the forecast for Christmas Eve through Christmas day looks pretty dreary. The chances of receiving the winter weather equivalent of “coal” this year seems increasing likely: heavy rain and warmth. This late fall/early winter so far has been very New England-like with bouts of snow and cold, followed by rain and warming. Up here on the summit, we have seen slightly above

Mount Washington Observatory’s Virtual Classroom “Home of the World’s Worst Weather Live” 2020-12-14 13:09:03.000 - Brian Fitzgerald, Director of Science and Education   With the end of the calendar year approaching, it’s a natural time to reflect on the past year and think of things to come. In the realm of educational programs at Mount Washington Observatory (MWO)- there’s a lot to reflect on. In this past year, a year with no equal, MWO was forced to suspend all in-person programs and figure out a way to uphold one significant part of MWO’s mission: develop and conduct innovative educational programs.

Dear Santa... 2020-12-07 16:02:34.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   Dear Santa-   I hope all is going well with you, the missus, and all your helpers up at the North Pole. I know that December is quite hectic for everyone at the N. Pole, but I hope that it is going smoothly as you get everything ready for those on your “Nice List.”   Speaking of that “Nice” list, fingers crossed that we grace its pages once again this year… I like to think that we acted kindly and respectfully to all those around us. When you arrive

Memories of Marty 2020-11-30 17:54:20.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   This blog post is one of the hardest ones I have had to compose in my 15 years here. Since I was here for the entirety of Marty Kitties life, I was asked if I’d like to write a post about his time on the summit. I started then deleted what I had about a dozen times. Where do I begin? What do I include? What do I write about? I guess I will just start from the beginning and let things flow from there.   When I

Summer Days and Snow-vember Nights 2020-11-23 20:25:41.000 - David DeCou, Weather Observer   Hello and windy greetings from the summit of Mount Washington! My coworkers and I are currently in the middle of a 10-day long shift up on the Rock Pile, and it is shaping up to an exciting time. As I write this, Jay, Nate and I are finally about to experience our first snow event of the season. The summit has had a few snow events already, but so far, nearly all of the snow accumulation has happened while the three of us were off the summit,

Have an Ice Night 2020-11-16 20:20:20.000 - Sam Robinson, Weather Observer/Engineer   Hello from the blustery summit of Mount Washington! I usually write long observers comments but I need to keep it short this time because I am writing this during a storm, while working the night shift alone. As I type this, it is currently around 26 degrees with winds close to 90 mph, and freezing rain (~09:30 PM on Nov. 15). I just came in from de-icing the instruments and my jacket and pants are stiff from glaze ice accumulation. I was outside for less than 10 minutes

Election Polls, Plinko, and Weather Forecasting 2020-11-09 11:57:13.000 - Nate Iannuccillo, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   Like many people in the United States this past week, I spent my evenings watching election results come in. One of the striking things about this election as well as elections in recent years, was the stark contrast between the predicted results and then what actually happened. A consistent question that has seemed to come up in this election as well as previous years is “How could the polls be so wrong?”. As a weather forecaster, this question seems all too familiar, and any seasoned meteorologist

A Spooky Day on the Summit 2020-11-02 14:16:28.000 - Nicole Tallman, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   Working for Mount Washington Observatory’s summit weather station means working shifts of 8 days on 6 days off. Sometimes these shifts are normal weeks and other times they fall on birthdays and holidays. On this most recent shift, my coworkers and I celebrated Halloween atop the tallest mountain in the Northeast!    Figure 1: The Great Summit Pumpkin looking at the full moon from the rotunda. Halloween was much different this year for everyone, including myself who has never experienced the holiday in such a

Special Relativity and the Myth of the Passive Observer 2020-10-26 14:32:57.000 - Nate Iannuccillo, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   A couple weeks ago, the summit experienced what ended up being the most intense thunderstorm that I’ve personally witnessed in the White Mountains. For at least one observation, we even coded “Continuous Lightning” in our METAR (meteorological aviation report). This is defined as observed lightning occurring 6 times per minute. The storm was particularly fierce with a tornado warning going out for Coos County, and the summit even got struck by lightning three times over the course of an hour.  After the lightning

Snow Much Excitement 2020-10-19 16:25:50.000 - Sam Robinson, Weather Observer/Engineer   Hello again from 6288’, As many of you likely already know, the summit saw its first substantial snowfall of the season this past Saturday. What was originally forecasted to be a mostly high elevation snow event with rain for lower elevations ended up being an “early” season snowfall for northern and western parts of our region. I say “early” since technically on the summit we are behind schedule for significant snowfall but it was quite early for lower elevations, although not unheard of. We received no snowfall in the