MWOBS/MWAC Internship & Research Overview

By Laura Wilson

It feels like only last shift I was writing my intro blog, but here we are, over three months later, and I have no idea how to fit everything into a single blog post. This week alone I finished a full draft of my case study, hiked a section of the Presidential Traverse, lapped the snowfields, said goodbye to Tricia (the other shift’s winter intern) and saw my first ever northern lights. Every week has something new, and I feel incredibly lucky to have spent my winter working on top of the Northeast.

I came into this internship having studied earth sciences and glaciology, with only a rudimentary understanding of meteorology. The observers on my shift, Alex, Alexis, and Charlie, have taught me so much and it’s amazing to reflect on how far my forecasting skills have come. It’s been an honor to write for the Higher Summits Forecast and I’m looking forward to recognizing the names of my friends and mentors as I read these forecasts in the coming months.

I still have a few days left with the USFS Mount Washington Avalanche Center and am looking forward to hiking back up to the bowl to see how spring conditions are developing (ironically, it is snowing on the summit as I write this). It’s been an invaluable experience to witness firsthand the development of snowpack on Mount Washington; from midwinter snowpack, to April-like conditions in March, to a historic avalanche cycle less than a month later (large enough to bury Connection Cache!!!), to true spring conditions and the slow melt out of the ravines, this is the sort of experience that cannot be acquired without consistent time out on the mountain. The added context of witnessing summit conditions and their direct impacts on regional avalanche forecasting along with the incredible mentorship from the MWAC team, Jeff, Kate, Patrick, and Charlotte, have helped me begin to develop the skills and intuition to competently predict snowpack development, and there’s still so much to learn!

I am also incredibly lucky to have spent the winter working with observer Charlie Peachey to develop a case study on the December 2023 rain on snow (ROS) flooding event to complement his larger paper on overall ROS trends on the Mount Washington summit.

In short, a coastal low moving north along the eastern seaboard dropped 4.1 inches of rain at the Mount Washington summit across 31 hours, from December 17-19. This rain fell on a below average early season snowpack, almost completely eradicating the snowpack at all elevations. While this rain event resulted in catastrophic flooding across New England, it is particularly notable in the Mount Washington region for its excessive runoff production from “only” 4 inches of precipitation. This event produced the sixth largest runoff response seen by the Saco River stream gauge since 1903. Not only that, but the recurrence intervals generated at both this gauge and the Ammonoosuc gauge in Bethlehem were close to 800 years for December 18^th and higher than 100 years for December 19^th. This event produced the largest runoff response of any out-of-season (non-spring snowmelt) ROS event on record for the four Mount Washington adjacent stream gauges.

As Charlie’s larger ROS study has found an increase in both frequency and magnitude of Mount Washington ROS events with time, this event is a fantastic example of the potential size and impacts of both present and future ROS events.

After my last few days with MWAC, I’m headed out to the Wind River range to assist with some spring snowpack studies. I’m ecstatic to have the opportunity to further my understanding of alpine snowpacks and am incredibly grateful to be able to draw on the skills I’ve spent the entire winter developing. With any luck, I’ll be able to use the knowledge I’ve gained this winter to develop my own research project and begin contributing to existing knowledge of windblown snow. I truly believe that I’ll use the knowledge and skills I’ve gained this winter throughout the rest of my life and career. I’m going to miss summit skis, Nimbus cuddles, and everyone I’ve met on the mountain. I will never forget this experience and can’t wait to visit again soon.

Overview of Lapse Rate Research

By Karl Philippoff

As a weather observer and research specialist on top of Mount Washington, in addition to my usual observer duties such as taking hourly observations, releasing forecasts, thoroughly checking our daily observations and keeping our weather instruments calibrated and in good working condition, I also look into the data that we collect both on the summit and in other weather stations we have set up around the White Mountains to investigate how the data that we collect is connected to other research projects conducted in other mountainous areas. One of the projects that I have become involved in my time on the summit involves the calculation of near-surface lapse rates for Mount Washington over daily, monthly, seasonal, and annual time scales.

Before proceeding further, what, exactly, is a lapse rate? Any lapse rate in atmospheric sciences involves the change in a desired parameter (usually, but not always, temperature with a change in height). Diagnosing in the atmosphere is key parameter in determining the stability characteristic of the atmosphere, with greater changes in temperature with height corresponding to a greater degree of instability, and lesser changes with greater stability. Especially in the summer season in New England, the lapse rate is one of a few key parameters that meteorologists look to evaluate whether thunderstorms will form on a given day (along with low-level moisture and a lifting mechanism). These lapse rates are known as free-air lapse rates, as they are usually taken to be vertical profiles of temperature above a flat ground surface.

Measuring lapse rates close to surfaces, rather than in free-air, is important as this is where organisms, snow, and glaciers tend to be found. Determining the rain/snow line as well as accurate snow hydrological and ecological modeling depend on accurate temperature estimates along surfaces to determine an organism’s ecological niche, as well how much snow would be expected to melt at each elevation during the spring melt season. As surfaces can be variable (e.g. different vegetation coverage, face different directions (north-facing vs. south-facing, windward vs. leeward), it is not always trivial to extrapolate the vertical temperature profile measured in the free-atmosphere to that measured along a significant gradient, as from the base to the summit of Mount Washington. Temperature itself is also a key factor controlling many environmental processes, making estimations of this quantity useful for a variety of fields, not only for meteorology or climatology.

Usually this research is done by using stations in valley locations and then extrapolating the temperatures measured in that location to higher elevations by using what is usually called the environmental lapse rate. This lapse rate has been found to be the typical temperature change with height in the lower atmosphere across the globe. Right away, you should notice a few problems with this methodology. First, this lapse rate is the average rate of change in the free atmosphere, not along a sloped surface, so this ignores any consideration for the changes to this lapse rate that might occur due to varied surface characteristics. And second, that this is a globally averaged value which eliminates any contributions that may be caused by seasonality or different climates. As you might imagine, the lapse rate over a tropical rainforest and over the tundra in the winter may be quite different! While it may be acceptable as a first approximation, using data collected in the region of interest is always preferable, especially if it is collected over a substantial length of time to more accurately give a representation of its average and its variability.

In this particular study, I was looking at temperature changes along the surface between the base of the mountain and the summit using data taken at weather stations arranged at regular intervals, roughly every 1,000 feet, along the Mount Washington Auto Road. These stations are all measuring temperature at the same height above the local ground surface. If you’ve ever seen the Auto Road Vertical Temperature Profile displayed on the left side of our current conditions page, it is a real-time glance at how these temperatures are changing with elevation every minute of every day (Figure 1). Additional benefits of using this data include:

· It consists of 7 full years of data (Jan 1st 2016- Dec. 31st 2022) while most other comparable studies use only 1 to 2 years of data.

· The stations are consistently facing toward the east-facing side of the mountain within short distance of each other, which minimizes discrepancies based on different aspects, exposure to winds (prevailing from the W to NW) and that experience similar weather at about the same time with regard to frontal systems.

· Data availability within the study period is excellent, with most stations having >99% data availability every minute over the full period.

· No other data set over a comparable length time at this kind of time resolution exists for the Northeast, making this dataset unique.

The lapse rates reported in the literature usually determined with respect to daily maximum, minimum, and average temperatures, so each of each station’s maximum, minimum, and average temperatures were calculated for each of the auto road weather stations. Then a best-fit line was fit through the remaining stations to determine the daily lapse rate with respect the three different temperature data points. Once the daily lapse rates were calculated, the data was averaged to determine daily, monthly, seasonal, and overall averages.

Some of the more important results we found were:

The daily data, as grouped by season, was organized into a histogram, with every day being shown. Each showed that there was substantial variation around the average lapse rates for each season, with the greatest amount of variation seen in the winter season, and narrower, more peaked distribution during the summer season. Both the spring and fall seasons showed distributions somewhat in between either of these two extremes (Figure 2).

All seasonal lapse rates were found to be significantly different from the environmental lapse rate, making it a poor estimator of temperature with increasing elevation in the White Mountains (Figure 3).

The overall average lapse rate of 5.5 °C/km was in good agreement with prior studies of lapse rates in the White Mountains and greater New England (Figure 4).

When the daily data was grouped by month, this began to show somewhat of a dichotomy between cold season and warm season patterns. In this case the ‘warm season’ begins in May and lasts until September and is characterized by steep lapse rates, especially of the maximum temperatures. Between November and March, the lapse rates of the maximum, minimum, and average temperatures are much closer together and they also vary in concert, though maximum temperature lapse rate always exceeds the minimum temperature lapse rate. March and October are transition months that exist somewhere in between these seasons, with a larger spread between the maximum and the minimum lapse rates than the ‘cold’ season, but a smaller spread than the ‘warm’ season. This flip between ‘warm’ and ‘cold’ modes becomes even more distinct when smoothing the daily lapse rates using a 10-day running mean (Figure 5). During the warm season, the minimum, maximum, and average lapse rates are spread well apart, with very little crossover between three different lapse rate flavors. During the cold season, however, the variation between the three flavors is much more tightly constrained, and they are also substantially more variable.

While this particular phase of the project has been completed, there are still multiple avenues for future research concerning lapse rates within the White Mountains. These include:

· Categorizing lapse rates according to precipitation events, especially those close to freezing, to better determine the evolution of the rain/snow line during precipitation events for future higher summits forecasts and avalanche forecasts.

· Expand the weather station network to include stations on the westward or windward slope of Mount Washington to determine the role of wind exposure on the temperature profiles measured, and strengthen the interpretation of the existing data.

· Calculating the lapse rates with respect to the Pinkham Notch COOP weather station so that lapse can be estimated back into the 1930s.

To learn more about the team’s lapse rate research, visit mountwashington.org/research/current-research-projects/lapse-rate-research/. 

Seek the Peak, our largest annual fundraiser, is underway! Learn more at seekthepeak.org or consider making a donation to the MWOBS Weather Observers’ team page to support our work in forecasting, education, and research.

Adventure with Kal: Meet Seek the Peak Steward Kally Abrams

By Kally Abrams

It was mid-July and my calendar was wide open for the next couple of weeks so I looked into events nearby that peaked my interest.

As an ambassador for Minus33, I’d seen their post that a few members from Minus33 would be joining an event called “Seek the Peak” in under a week. It was the 23rd year for this event, with the purpose to fundraise for the Mount Washington Observatory to sustain educational and scientific programs.

It had all of the elements I enjoy, but time was short so I had to move quickly if I wanted to be an active participant; one who carried their own weight. An email was sent— a quick reply stated they’d love to have me join their team and the expectations were outlined.

Digging in, I created my event page and began my journey of fundraising. I have a motto I employed years ago that is pretty simply and mostly effective as well: “If you don’t ask the answer is already no.” I began asking friends to chip in. I poured my soul into a bit of creative writing, hoping that as my words fell off the electronic page, they’d be drawn to donate to this cause.

It was a trifecta for me:

· I was not only donating my time, but investing it in a non-profit that continually shares the science and wonder of Mount Washington, the home of the world’s worst weather.

· I was going to hike to the top of Mount Washington, which I’ve dubbed Mr. 6,288, in for what I could tell was an unsettled weather kind of day with my peeps from Minus33.

· I was going to attend an after party they called the Après Hike Expo with live music, tasty treats, raffles, and Tuckerman’s beer.

The first donation was my own as I tried to inspire others to follow, clicking that donate button. My goal was a small humble amount overall. It’s a balance asking for donations, you lean over the edge of being perceived as a pest by those seeing your request to simply being persistent and dedicated to a great cause.

The morning of Seek the Peak was upon us and I wanted to know the forecast: Naturally, I went to the Mount Washington Observatory (MWOBS) higher summits forecast website. I knew that down at the base it was going to be a beautiful day, but those rays of sunshine and warmer temps weren’t necessarily what was in store as we’d hike up Tuckerman Ravine Trail. The morning had a slight chill, perfect for getting boots on and meeting the team I’d be hiking with. After very brief introduction to those I didn’t know I was given a pair of new Seek the Peak Minus33 socks.

A quick sock change, a picture at the trail sign and we were off. There were four of us and a four legged furry friend in our group, but there were so many other people out on the trails for this fundraising day. We initially played the classic leap frog with other hikers where the trail is wider at the beginning, cordial “enjoy your hike”, “see you at the top”, “do you think it’ll (meaning rain) hold off until we reach the summit” exchanges were made as our footsteps fell behind and the true elevation gain began.

We reached a section of the trail that was my favorite as it resembled a staircase with beautiful scenery surrounding us as water cascaded down below. This was a pinch point on the trail, staying on the trail and not stepping where human footprints leave traces on the natural delicate landscape. We were in no hurry, even with the chance of drops from the sky above threatening us with moisture that would actually wash away some of my sweat. Hiking is a plethora of fun when you are prepared for the elements, have filled your body with sustenance, and a group that enjoys trail chatter along with you.

There were ample spots for photos to be taken as we each took in the day on the trail as we inched closer to our goal. There is preparation and then there is luck. I don’t want to comingle those too much, but as luck would have it the rains held off until we tucked into the café of the Observatory. It wasn’t a deluge, but the clouds certainly took hold, bringing with it rain and a bit of chilly winds. While inside, we learned of an opportunity none of us were aware of: Folks who were hiking Seek the Peak were invited for a behind-the-scenes tour of the weather room and tower, along with chats with staff and board members. I asked if I could also meet Nimbus, but I was told he was probably enjoying his mid-day catnap. I had another secret plan I was hatching in order to puurhaps scratch his whiskers or offer my snuggly Minus33 top for him to curl up in.

The tour of the Observatory was an absolute treat! Having hiked Mr. 6,288 multiple times over the past dozen or so years from seemingly every direction in a host of weather events along with an epic run (I use that word loosely), I’d often enlisted the wise weather wisdom of the higher summits forecast to plan my adventures. Each hike should be treated as their own, while drawing from past experiences— what worked best and what was a bust. Trusting your gear is a must and I, along with my fellow hiking community, rely on what MWOBS records; fact based on science data-gathering and weather modeling.

During the tour there are various stations to stop, listen, and learn from all the years of the past up to the current forecast. Old equipment was on display, new technology is certainly in the mix and along the corridor are years in history that one should absolutely stop and read. As we worked our way to the tower, we learned about the harshest elements that consumed the summit and were fought off in order to keep the instruments recording. We were invited to climb the ladder and step out onto the tiny deck now several feet above the true summit: I felt elated and literally on top of the world!

I’d done it, I’d hiked Mr. 6,288 yet again— this time not for me, but for all of you. Sure, my body was rewarded, my senses were heightened, and the weather wasn’t frightening (more the contrary; the mild inclement weather we’d been experiencing all but vanished as we headed back to the trail we’d taken to the top). The rain coat was off, layers stowed back into our packs, a trail snack devoured, and giant smiles all around.

The trail was a little slick from the moisture but the trek back down to Pinkham Notch was blessed with clearing skies with billowing clouds that allowed the humidity that also greeted us to be somewhat diminished with the sun intermittently hidden behind a fluffy cloud.

Once back at my truck, in which I’d slept the night before nearby, I had a quick wardrobe change so I wasn’t too gross for the Après Hike Expo/party. My truck is such a comfy space, as we’d outfitted it to overland in two years prior (that’s an entirely different write-up about the over 10,000 miles exploring and visiting the area where my true romance for hiking began).

The party was lovely, the vendors cheerful, the food wonderful, and the beverages from Tuckerman a welcomed flare. I stayed a while, chatting and relishing in the day, and looked up at the summit, where I had just been, enveloped in clouds yet again.

This year, when I saw the date of the 24th annual Seek the Peak I penned it into my calendar. Not only that, but when I learned that MWOBS was seeking stewards for the event I wrote to them and submitted my name. I’ve created my fundraising page and have started writing my creative content that many of you will receive as we seek together generous donations to fund the non-profit Mount Washington Observatory.

I encourage each of you to stay tuned for more as we are gearing up for what we all hope is an epic day on the trails. Be kind, do good work & live in harmony!

To check out Kally’s adventure blog, visit adventurewithkal.blogspot.com, and support her Seek the Peak fundraiser here. Visit seekthepeak.org to register for the event as an individual or team and join us on July 20th to celebrate at Great Glen Trails.

Rime ice is illuminated by the sunrise on the observation deck railing on April 23.

Dear *{{Informal Name}}*, I’m thrilled to join the Mount Washington Observatory team as its new Membership and Events Coordinator. My family and I have always cherished the White Mountains, and for years, we’ve relied on the Observatory’s forecasts to keep us safe and informed on our adventures. Those forecasts were more than just weather updates; they instilled confidence in our preparation when spending time in the mountains. Knowing that so many of you share this passion for the outdoors, I’m excited to be involved with our largest annual fundraising event, Seek the Peak, now in its 24th year! This event directly supports our mission of conducting research on Mount Washington and gathering data that help us better understand the natural forces shaping our planet’s weather and climate. Now is the time to unite your family, friends, and colleagues for this special event. Choose any trail, anywhere (hiking Mount Washington is not required!) and embark on a hike to raise critical funds for MWOBS. Check out our press release and watch this video for more info. I can’t wait to meet you at the Après Hike Expo following your hikes on Saturday, July 20th from 4-7 p.m. It’ll be an afternoon filled with live music, a delicious family-style meal by Harts’ Turkey Farm Restaurant, a beer garden, local vendors, and an epic gear raffle with Eastern Mountain Sports and many other outdoor brands. What better way to celebrate after a hike than with fellow outdoor enthusiasts at the epicenter of adventure in the White Mountains? As I step into my new role, I am eager to find ways we can collectively work together to strengthen our community and champion the Observatory’s mission. Your support makes our work possible, and I am excited to join this journey with all of you. Sincerely,

Wendy Almeida Membership and Events Coordinator

Read Press Release Watch Video

P.S. Consider supporting our weather observers’ 2024 Seek the Peak team here. Thank you!

APRIL WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

Highest Temperature 46 °F  Lowest Temperature 1 °F Fastest Wind Speed 123 MPH Precipitation 8.74 IN

Complete monthly weather data can be viewed here. Check the Higher Summits Forecast for an extended weather outlook.

Fundraising is in Full Swing With over 110 Seek the Peak participants registered so far, we have reached 15% of our fundraising goal. Thank you! Join the fun and compete for unique prizes, including overnight trips at MWOBS’s world-famous weather station. Be sure to tag #SeekthePeak on your outdoor adventures!

Sign Up Today!

90th Big Wind Day Celebration

Observatory friends and family members, community leaders, volunteers, and supporters came together to celebrate the legacy of our 92-year-old organization and the 1934 world record wind on April 12. Thank you Tuckerman Brewing Company as well as our summit partners, Mt. Washington Auto Road, Mount Washington Cog Railway, and New Hampshire State Parks. Cheers! Shown in this photo at Tuckerman Brewing Company are NH State Representative David Paige, left; Observatory Volunteer Coordinators Hank and Linda Dresch with their family members; Sally Viola Pagliuca McIntire (wearing black turtleneck), who is the daughter of Observatory co-founder Sal Pagliuca; Alex McKenzie (wearing red lined vest), grandson of Observatory co-founder Alex McKenzie; Albert William Pagliuca Salvatore, who is the son of Sal Pagliuca, with his wife Marcia Koegel (wearing red sweater); Keith McKenzie (in back row), also grandson of Alex McKenzie; family members of Don Stephenson (wearing green shirt with blue sleeves), who is the son of original weather observer Wendell Stephenson; and Observatory Executive Director Drew Bush, far right.

Watch Video

UPCOMING EVENTS

Smugglers’ Notch Distillery to Host Dine-to-Donate for MWOBS Join us at Smugglers’ Notch Distillery in Stowe, VT on Saturday, May 18 between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. for a very special day when a portion of all proceeds will be donated to support our work in weather and climate science. Our staff will be on-hand to hold raffles, give away free gear, and help hikers sign up for Seek the Peak.

Learn More

2nd Annual LimmerFest to Celebrate Hiking and History Mark your calendars! From May 31 to June 2, we’ll be joining Peter Limmer & Sons to celebrate the history of the Limmer family and their heritage of hand-crafted hiking boots made in the Mount Washington Valley. Dr. Peter Crane, MWOBS Curator, will kick things off with a history talk on Friday, May 31 at 6:30 p.m. at the Observatory’s building in North Conway. Save the dates!

Learn More

New Program Offers Peak Perspectives for Educators Call for applications! Are you a formal or informal K-12 educator looking for hands-on, authentic ways to connect your students with weather and climate science learning, which meets Next Generations Science Standards (NGSS)? Join our education team this summer for an overnight professional learning experience like no other!

Learn More

Science in the Mountains: Engaging Our Communities Join Katie Brodeur of the Seacoast Science Center on Tuesday, May 14 at 7:00 p.m. for our next Science in the Mountains virtual lecture. Learn about Brodeur’s work engaging explorers of all ages in community science, and discover how this coastal center and aquarium introduces foundational concepts and field skills to its visitors, with locally relevant community science projects.

Reserve Your Spot

Summit Slated to Open May 24  The Sherman Adams Visitor Center on the summit of Mount Washington, along with full visitor services including gift shop, food service, water refilling station, and MWOBS’ Extreme Mount Washington summit museum are planned to open on Friday, May 24 (weather permitting). Stay tuned for more information on weather station tours, and visit our Summit Partners’ pages for up-to-date information.

Sunrise with undercast on March 9.

Dear Member, People become aware of Mount Washington Observatory in many ways. It could be your love of extreme weather, an appreciation of the deep historical roots of the organization, an admiration of our research, or the role we play in creating awareness of the weather in Mount Washington’s environs. I came to the Obs through this last route. My father frequently performed mountain rescues for distressed hikers, and he relied heavily on the accuracy of our forecasts. Fast forward 50 years, and I am honored to become the first woman chair of this august organization! While our history is a rich one, it is the future that excites me the most. This future is being shaped by many talented women across our organization. Learn more about our staff and Board of Trustees. With so much coming up, I hope you can join us at one of the many interesting events. Check out our Events Calendar and find what interests you the most. For me, it is a difficult choice. A once-in-a-lifetime event is coming up with the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse. That’s followed quickly by the 90th Anniversary of Big Wind Day, a historic event. And no summer would be complete without Seek the Peak. It should get your blood pumping as you tackle Mount Washington yourself or root for those who do! If you are less inclined to sprint up the mountain, perhaps you can be tempted by the many dine-to-donate events, where you’ll find all of us who love the Observatory enjoying the fine cuisine of our region. However you come to MWOBS, we welcome your interest and look forward to seeing you on the mountain! Sincerely,

Erica Broman, Ed.D. Board of Trustees Chair

MARCH WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

Highest Temperature 43 °F  Lowest Temperature -17 °F Fastest Wind Speed 150 MPH Precipitation 11.92 IN

Complete monthly weather data can be viewed here. Check the Higher Summits Forecast for an extended weather outlook as we approach the April 8 Total Solar Eclipse.

Author Rachel Slade Recounts Summit Experience Read a deep excerpt of acclaimed author Rachel Slade’s new essay, “Will They Believe It?” in which she recounts her experience on Mount Washington last April on the 89th anniversary of Big Wind Day. Her full story will be published in the September/October 2024 edition of Yankee Magazine.

Read Story

Science in the Mountains: Forecasting the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

In our latest Science in the Mountains, Observatory team members Brian Fitzgerald and Francis Tarasiewicz joined astronomer Shawn Laatsch from the University of Maine to discuss the science of eclipses, how to safely view them, and crucially, what the weather forecast will likely be in your planned viewing location.

View Recording

Citizen CATE Q+A with State Coordinator Jackie Bellefontaine Bellefontaine will help support a team on the ground at Pittsburg Public School in Pittsburg, NH, with the public encouraged to join in the inquiry. We recently spoke with her about the Citizen CATE project and ways for eclipse viewers to participate in citizen science opportunities around the event.

Read New Impact Story

Solar Eclipse Contest

On April 8, Mount Washington will NOT be in the total solar eclipse path of totality, but we WILL be measuring the change in temperature caused by incoming solar radiation at the summit. Be the first person to guess how temperature changes during the eclipse’s maximum, and you will win a behind-the-scenes tour of our summit weather station with our Executive Director, Drew Bush, as well as lunch with our scientists!

To enter, make a donation over $10 at this link and write “eclipse competition” in the notes field (under Additional Details). The first two numbers of your donation amount should be equal to the whole number and tenths place of your guess (i.e., $72 means a guess of 7.2 degrees Celsius). Need help? Check out this peer reviewed article from Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A on atmospheric changes from solar eclipses. All donations support our 91-year legacy of scientific research and education.

Enter to Win!

From the Obs Archive: The World Record Wind Story

Featured in the summit’s Extreme Mount Washington Museum, this film tells the story of Big Wind Day in the words of Salvatore Pagliuca and Alexander McKenzie. Accompanied by historical photographs and images from the crew’s logbook, the experience is an immersive and educational step back in time.

Watch Video

Upcoming Events

Total Eclipse of the Art Reception  Come to the Omni Mount Washington Resort’s Great Hall on Saturday, April 6 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. for an exhibition and reception featuring Weather Observer Ryan Knapp’s astrophotography and light refreshments.

Understanding Weather and Climate of the Solar Eclipse Join MWOBS educators in the Omni Mount Washington Resort’s Grand Ballroom on Sunday, April 7 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon for their presentation, “Understanding Weather and Climate of the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse (And Viewing Tips).”

Eclipse Science and Some Surprising Misconceptions Join Dr. Neil F. Comins, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Maine, in the Omni Mount Washington Resort’s Grand Ballroom on Sunday, April 7 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Dr. Comins will present “Eclipse Science and Surprising Misconceptions about Our Solar System.”

Open House at the Gladys Brooks Memorial Library Join our Trustees and staff, including Curator Peter Crane, Ph.D., on Thursday, April 11 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Gladys Brooks Memorial Library. Explore the amazing history of Big Wind Day by viewing archival materials and a replica of the heated No. 2 anemometer that measured the 231 mph wind gust.

90th Big Wind Day Anniversary Celebration Our 90th Anniversary Celebration takes place at Tuckerman Brewing on Friday, April 12 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Enjoy lots of family fun and meet relatives of Alex McKenzie, Sal Pagliuca, and Wendell Stephenson! $1 of every 6288 Stout purchased at the event (and throughout April) will be donated to the Observatory. Partial sales from this commemorative anniversary t-shirt will also go back to our programs!

24th Annual Seek the Peak Registration for our 24th annual Seek the Peak is OPEN! We’re almost at 100 participants; help us get there by registering individually or with a team, or better yet, get a workplace team together and enter our Business Team Competition! We also have a Students and Family Competition for our younger hikers, and as always there are perks and prizes for fundraising levels: Register today!

Events Calendar

Gordini Sponsors MWOBS’ Live-Streaming Webcams

We’re very excited to partner with Gordini! Based in Vermont, Gordini focuses on innovations that solve challenges faced by its users and the planet, and joins the Observatory as a sponsor of our webcams that stream live views of mountain weather. Learn more at gordini.com.

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Summit Receives New Medical Supplies & Training Thanks to support from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund, we’ve added two automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and new medical supplies to our summit weather station and snow cat. As we work to train our staff in medical procedures with partners at Mount Washington State Park, we’re thankful for this support to upgrade our equipment.

Deadline Driven: The 12-Hour Shifts that Power Weather Forecasting from the Northeast’s Highest Peak

By Wendy Almeida 

As a new member of the Mount Washington Observatory team, I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the unique operations of the weather station and the meticulous work of observers to help better explain to our members how our summit team works. Having previously volunteered at the summit to cook for our EduTrips, I was familiar with the general rhythm. But this time, I shadowed an observer for a couple of 12-hour shifts. My goal was to delve into the nuances of their work, the pressure of hourly deadlines, and the coding language used for weather observations at the summit. 

Many who follow the MWOBS social media and blog know that weather observers brave harsh conditions to collect weather data. What may not be as clear is that this data collection and reporting operates on a constant timer of deadlines. 

Having worked at a daily newspaper, I understand the pressure of deadlines to get pages off to the presses for printing and distribution. Those were tight daily and weekly deadlines that required quick work and accuracy. 

While shadowing observers at the summit, I witnessed that same pressure of deadlines, but on an hourly basis for 12 hours straight. They must record and submit observations before :15 past the hour. So, while the observation can take 2 to 10 minutes for non-synoptic observations, it can take another 5 to 10 minutes to fill in and code all the data correctly. An observer needs to be a hardy soul who enjoys the challenge of facing all sorts of harsh weather; it’s also a person who thrives under pressure.   

Daily Observations and Data Reporting 

Observations are conducted hourly, but the level of data collection varies. In addition to these hourly observations, there are “mini” reports every 3 hours and more comprehensive synoptic reports four times daily, each requiring a different level of detail and analysis.

A typical hourly observation involves venturing outside with a sling psychrometer. This device resembles a double thermometer, with a dry bulb to take the current temperature and the other with a “wet bulb” to get the evaporative temperature. The wet bulb is left in distilled water and, when brought outside to “sling,” measures the temperature as it evaporates. Using both the dry and wet bulb calculates the dew point and relative humidity. However, it is not used when the summit is in the clouds because the conditions are already at 100% saturation. 

After noting the current temperature and humidity, observers assess the visibility from the deck in each direction to determine the most dominant visibility conditions. Then there are the clouds. Various cloud types can be present at different levels, and the type of cloud informs the general height of the clouds, but experience provides the best estimate of cloud cover height. (This blog explains more about identifying clouds) 

The observation starts as a 2-minute task outside, but sometimes it can take longer, especially if “slinging” takes several minutes or multiple cloud layers need to be assessed. Once inside the station, the observations are recorded through a METAR coded report. 

In addition to recording the hourly observations, the synoptic report is submitted every 6 hours and shared with the National Weather Service for use in nationwide forecasting models and regional reports. This data helps NWS update models by informing them of current conditions, including precipitation and pressure changes. This data also produces specialized forecasts for the higher summits of the White Mountains and the greater White Mountains region. 

Understanding the Legacy of Continuous Observations 

MWOBS has been diligently recording hourly observations since 1932, making it North America’s longest continuous historical climate record maintained by human observation. This invaluable data allows us to gain deeper insights into weather patterns and their changes. (Learn more about the Observatory’s climatological records here)

Supporting the Observatory’s Mission 

Seek the Peak, our largest annual fundraiser, is underway! Join in on the fun at seekthepeak.org or consider making a donation to the MWOBS Weather Observers’ team page to support our work in forecasting, education, and research. 

Intern Tricia’s Farewell and Research Recap

By Tricia Hutton

Summarizing my time on Mount Washington feels like an enormous task, but I’ll try. The team at Mount Washington Observatory welcomed me into their lives only a few months ago, and now I cannot picture my life without this experience, or them in it. The interdisciplinary work on the summit is the most amazing combination for any meteorology/earth science enthusiast.

I have gained experience in such a wide range of work that has exponentially launched my knowledge. I have grown as a forecaster with our higher summits forecasts, assisted with instrument work and learned so much about what it takes to make the summit run.

I have learned communication techniques and forecasting skills from my shifts education specialist/weather observer, Francis Tarasiewicz. Francis helped me gain confidence in my skills and grow as a forecaster.

Our night observer, Ryan Knapp, has been extremely influential; I can always rely on his experience and knowledge on the summit, and learning from him has been an incredible experience.

My shift’s research specialist, Karl Philippoff, has helped me create a research project to grow as a researcher and was always there when I had questions and needed support. I am going to miss living, working, and learning from them!

And of course—I am going to miss Mr. Nimbus.  

My research project during my time on the summit analyzed the solid-to-liquid ratios on Mount Washington for 2023. A solid-to-liquid ratio (SLR) is calculated by measuring the amount of solid accumulation, then melting it to measure the corresponding amount of water.

SLR varies by location and from different weather variables. Accurately forecasting SLR is important for total accumulations, societal impacts, and avalanche conditions. Higher ratios are found in dry, ‘fluffy’ snow, which is liable to be blown around, while lower ratios produce wet, heavy snow and less blowing snow. During my research I looked at 2023’s SLR in relationship to temperatures, wind speed, and more.

A glimpse into this knowledge and a better understanding of Mount Washington is exciting as an aspiring scientist. I also gained more experience coding in python and exploring and expanding new topics. 

Brief analysis highlights:

A daily average was calculated each time solid precipitation was present, and a running average of 7 days was overlaid in red. It was determined that the average value over this daily data is 10:1, which is the national average. Another quick look into my analysis includes the temperature relationship with SLR. For 2023, the trend (red line) shows that as temperature increases SLR decreases. This research could then be replicated and further explored through the vast dataset of Mount Washington, dating back to 1932!  

My experience conducting research on Mount Washington will help me through my career as I continue my education through my Master’s degree starting this Fall. As I continue to grow as a scientist, I am forever grateful for my time as an intern on Mount Washington, and I’m so thankful I could be here during my favorite time of year—winter!

Reflecting on my time on the summit can best be described as incredibly fulfilling. I enjoyed waking up early to catch sunrises and going out for sunsets every chance I could get. This experience was life changing and I am sad for it to end. When you are passionate about what you do, it never feels like work, and for the first time, I’ve truly experienced that!

Learn more about Tricia’s research on our Research page.

2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Two Perspectives

By Karl Philippoff and Francis Tarasiewicz

Mount Washington, New Hampshire (Francis)

I got into meteorology in part, because of how the weather can, even if briefly, bring us humans together as a captive audience to its destructive majesty. From casual conversations about clouds to catastrophic storms, the atmosphere serves as the great equalizer.

On Monday April 8th, I realized that forces far outside our planet’s troposphere can fill this same role. For a few short minutes that afternoon the typical buzz of the modern world paused. Millions gathered, gawked, cried, and shared an experience that has timelessly captivated humans and the natural world for millennia. I’ve built it up enough, I am of course, talking about the total solar eclipse. The story of the eclipse has evolved from exciting mythical tales of creatures of all sizes swallowing up our closest star to a more rational and reductionist story of the Moon’s brief obscuration of the Sun. As someone trained in logic and science, there is nothing that could have prepared me for the spiritual experience of riding the edge of totality.

My experience with the Great American Eclipse of 2024 began as every wintertime shift on the summit does. A bumpy, low speed adventure in our snow tractor. Despite our Wednesday shift change being only five days away from a spectacular celestial event, I found myself brooding and frustrated. You see, the summit was forecast to be a mere 29 miles from the path of totality. At 99.97% (yes it is that precise) we were set to miss glimpses of the Sun’s atmosphere, Bailey’s Beads, and the 360 degree sunrise. The ride up was full of my journey through the five stages of grief for this event. At the base, anger about missing it prevailed, but by the time the snowcat lumbered its way up to the summit, I was firmly in the acceptance phase. Sure, we would miss out on totality, but hey we had a shot at seeing the Moon’s shadow race across the northern sky. So long as the weather cooperated.

Statistically speaking, only 8% of April 8ths throughout the observatory’s history featured fog or cloud free conditions.

Climatology was firmly against us.

The next few days were choc full of educational programs where I had to sell the beauty of an eclipse to among the harshest of audiences, middle school students. As the education observer, and as I am sure most educators can agree, there is nothing more satisfying than receiving actual questions from students! I delivered these programs knowing that our odds on the summit of even seeing a partial eclipse were quite low.

Then, something changed. Miraculously, weather models began to paint an increasingly favorable picture for eclipse viewing across New England. Instead of the climatologically favored cloudy spells, models converged on an area of high pressure building in behind a behemoth of a storm system that, during the previous week, delivered 82 hours of snow that piled up to over 24 inches on the summit. Excitement was building. Mercifully, the forecast not only held, but continued to improve, there was to be a layer of very dry air that would evaporate even the most stubborn upslope clouds that notoriously hang around the summit.

Then, after months of planning, educational programs, internet buzz, and countdowns it was the day of the eclipse. On the summit, a brilliant sunrise illuminated a 130 mile view to the horizon. This was as good as it gets. The day wasn’t only exciting for your narrator, it was a summative event for our resident photographer, Ryan Knapp. “As an astrophotographer this is my Avengers endgame” he said as he began the laborious final system check of his assortment of cameras and camera gear. His goal: to document a time-lapse of the eclipse itself and of the shadow of totality as it raced across the northern sky.

At 2:18pm, the lower right-hand side of sun began to develop a slight dent, marking first contact and the beginning of the eclipse. Through eclipse glasses held over my goggles and corrective lenses the sight began to fill me with an excitement previously only elicited by weather. The dimple became a “Pac-Man” shaped chunk, and then a semi-circle. Keep in mind, winds at the time were sustained around 45 miles per hour and temperatures were just below freezing. Tough times to be a paper pair of eclipse glasses. As the moon covered the sun Ryan briefed us on what we should start looking out for. “Shadows should be getting more faint.” “The sky should start to dim.” “Okay, colors should start to wash…” Suddenly, as the moon eclipsed more than 95 percent of the sun, colors, which for my entire life I have taken for granted, began to wash out. A strange monochrome grayish-red took the place of most colors as I removed my goggles. To my surprise, I did not have to squint even with the whiteness of snow on the ground below. It was as if sunset had come four hours early. An almost horrifying darkness began to swallow the skies above Green Mountains to the northwest. The shadow had arrived! The Moon’s umbra raced across the northern horizon at 1500 mph, eventually moving northeast but lingering just long enough to make it into my 3pm observational remark.

RMK: BLSN BLO STA NE ECLIPSE SHADOW DSNT NE

Teary eyed, I looked around at our special guests who were in different stages of awe and processing. It wasn’t totality, but it is a sacred space in my memory. It was the day where the horizon that I’ve spent years looking at from the summit, ceased making sense.

The eclipse ended as soon as it started, and as I resumed the mundane task of scrolling through social media I was greeted by hundreds of photos of “the shot”. People online touted their capture of the Sun’s Corona, which while impressive, became almost repetitive. Maybe it’s just me coping with missing totality, but I would argue that the image of a sky divided into day and night from the summit was perhaps even more impressive.

That was my experience of the eclipse from the summit; the next part of this blog details Karl’s weird and wonderful journey to totality as he traversed the southern US.

Hot Springs, Arkansas (Karl)

My odyssey to see the total eclipse began several months ago. My sister, who works for NASA in Maryland, had been invited to an event at Lyndon B. Johnson State Park outside of Stonewall, Texas in the Texas Hill Country north of San Antonio and east of Austin. She was going to be situated within the path of totality, with a much longer total duration than during the last total solar eclipse which traversed the United States in 2017. From a climatological perspective (Fig. 1) it also seemed like it was going to be much more favorable to see the eclipse from that location than being in northern New Hampshire, so I bought a plane ticket to Houston, Texas and booked an Airbnb with my parents in a land-bound RV located about an hour and a half away from the state park because it was much cheaper than anything situated in the actual path of totality.

As time proceeded closer to the event, the forecast was looking less and less favorable for cloud-free viewing, at least at the state park, so late in the afternoon on the day before the eclipse, I hatched a plan to give us the best possible window of opportunity to see it, though unfortunately my sister could not be as flexible with her plans. It looked like low-level clouds would blot out the views of the eclipse over much of Texas, but models kept hinting at a relatively clear area, with only a small percentage of high-level clouds over central Arkansas at approximately the right time (Fig.2). We had already journeyed from New Jersey to Texas to see the eclipse, so what was driving a few hundred more miles to see totality for the last time in the contiguous United States until August 23rd, 2044?

Later that day, I spent a few hours listening to my sister present to state park visitors about the eclipse, and also took part in some eclipse activities including picturing what we thought the eclipse might look like the next day (Fig.3). We stopped at a grocery store on our way back to our Airbnb to get food and provisions for the extended journey the next day, as well several prepackaged coffees to aid in staying awake while driving. I was unsure about the traffic situation, so I thought that leaving at around 2AM that morning and avoiding traveling through major cities would hopefully be sufficient.

Leaving at 2AM, was, I’m sure, the highlight of the trip for everyone involved! But the roads were quite empty for the remainder of the night, and we were making good time, only stopping once for gas in Atlanta, TX, though under ominous low-level gray clouds. As we kept proceeding north through Texarkana, TX and into western Arkansas, the low-level clouds began to break up and the sun became visible! Our initial stopping point was at a park in Dierks, AR where we had breakfast, but after only about an hour, the low-level clouds that we had driven through on the way up had made their way north. The time was around 1030AM and we still had some time to get into position.

We made our way north and east to a family park outside of Hot Springs, Arkansas and managed to get one of the last parking spots, roughly 9 hours of driving and 500 miles from where we had begun our day. We then walked over to a grassy area overlooking a nearby airport and got to enjoy a few minutes of relaxation before the show started at 1231PM. Short of a few mid-level clouds that briefly moved in and did not substantially dim the solar disc, we had a great view of the Moon slowly obscuring more and more of the Sun as it moved from the bottom right to the top left of the Sun. While the eclipse glasses worked great for seeing the eclipse with my own eyes, it definitely was not quite spectacular as captured using my cell phone, though definitely not for lack of trying. It was incredible to see even a few minutes before and after totality how amazingly bright the sun was, with the appearance of a cloudy day until the last few minutes before and after totality when the sun was nearly completely obscured.

And then, of course, the main event! At 1349, we entered totality for about 4 minutes to whoops and cheers from the rest of the people who had gathered in the park. Instantly the sun’s corona became visible, appearing as a large halo seemingly around the Moon (Fig.4), as well as Venus and Jupiter and a few of the brighter stars . Darkness descended over us, but the colors of the clouds to our southeast appeared as if it was about to be sunset… in the middle of the day (Fig. 5). The sun’s corona was arrestingly beautiful surrounding the orb of the Moon and shooting out in all directions and captured my attention for most of those 4 minutes. I felt temperature drop slightly, though not precipitously so, but I did not personally see or hear any other unusual animal behavior (e.g. chirping crickets or otherwise) during, before, or even after totality. Immediately after totality we got to see Baily’s Beads very briefly as the Sun shown through some of the lower valleys of the lunar disc as seen from Earth before the solar disc slowly started to fill in once again. It was like slowly coming back to reality. Shortly after totality, one of the people who had set up a telescope with a solar filter in the park noticed that he could see a solar flare and allowed us to see it as well.

Below (Figure 7), you’ll also find an mage of the Earth taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), one of my sister’s primary missions, at 1859 UTC (1359 CDT) 7 minutes after totality passed at our location in Hot Springs, AR showing the Moon’s shadow over Earth’s surface (notice all the cloud cover over Texas).

As the day trended toward the typical brightness of an early spring day in the southern United States, it erased the shadowy pall of the eclipse from our senses, but not from our memories. And it unfortunately did not erase the 400 mile, 6.5 hour drive back to Houston through a few thunderstorms for our flight out the early the next morning either.

From Mount Washington to Antarctica

By Charlotte Markey

What do Antarctica and the summit of Mount Washington have in common besides weather? Having worked as support staff for both locations, I can tell you there are plenty of commonalities. In fact, volunteering at “the rockpile” helped me land a job in Antarctica!

I have been fascinated with Mount Washington ever since I climbed Tuckerman when I was in my early twenties. As years passed, my husband and I took the children to Bartlett to vacation once or twice a year and enjoyed our pilgrimage to Jackson Falls, Pinkham Notch, and Mt. Washington. Even if the weather didn’t allow us to travel up, we still would go to the parking lot across from the auto road and the children would “summit” the big boulder there. We have pictures of the children on the top of that boulder documenting each year’s growth! We just loved the beauty that is Mt. Washington.

Twelve years ago, my family gave me an overnight on the summit as a birthday gift. It was the most incredible adventure! I saw behind the scenes, met meteorologists and observers, and I even got to meet and play with Marty (the summit cat before the now-famous Nimbus). Upon returning home, I immediately became a member and enjoyed reading about the weather and happenings with the organization. I learned that there were many volunteer roles to help MWOBS including helping on the summit!

A few years ago, I was in between jobs and decided to volunteer on the summit. I was eager to help as support staff by making dinners for the meteorologists, doing light housekeeping, being a museum docent, and helping at the retail shop. The schedule has two volunteers go up on Wednesdays to change the staff. It is an incredible experience.

Shortly after my first week of volunteering, I read about opportunities to work in Antarctica! It never occurred to me that, similar to meteorologists on the summit, scientists in Antarctica need people to make meals, run the retail shop at McMurdo Station, and hold other support staff positions.

In my past life, I was a Special Education Teacher and Girl Scout Camp Director. I decided to apply for positions with United States Antarctic Program (USAP), which needed workers to hold positions like the ones I performed on the summit. I listed all of them on the volunteer section of my résumé.

A hiring manager contacted me, and we had a Zoom interview shortly afterwards. He had a lot of questions about my volunteering experience on the summit. I explained that I was about to volunteer in February, and would have to ride up the mountain in a snowcat. I also told him that volunteers must work in the summer before being offered a winter position because in the winter, it’s not always possible to get down if you decide that you don’t like spending a week at 6,288 feet! A few days later, I was hired to go to Antarctica at McMurdo Station to work as their retail clerk.

Last October, I went to McMurdo. I worked there for three weeks and unfortunately developed COVID and had to be brought to a hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand. I recovered quickly but once you are off the ice…you’re off the ice. It was an amazing experience with a sad ending.

Luckily, I’m healthy and I will be applying again in the future! In the meantime, I’m back volunteering on the summit. Antarctica was spectacular and I’m so lucky to have stepped foot on the continent. I believe that my experience as a volunteer with MWOBS helped me to get there.

This week, I was joined by volunteer Margaret Brumsted, who I met volunteering last year at the Observatory and is my volunteer buddy (and who has also been to Antarctica!). We hosted the descendants of the three men who recorded the highest wind ever measured by a human on Mount Washington. This week marked the 90th anniversary of the “Big Wind”, measuring 231 m.p.h.! What an honor it was to meet them. We’ve also had four days of rain totaling approximately 1 ½”, wind gusts of 109 m.p.h., and as of this writing, it’s snowing! I am always in awe of Mt. Washington’s extreme, unpredictable weather! I love it here and plan on many more years of volunteering on the summit.

For more information on the MWOBS volunteer program and to get involved, visit https://mountwashington.org/about-us/volunteer/. 

Record Gust, Human Grit: 90 Years of Big Wind

By Ellen Estabrook | April 10, 2024

“’Will they believe it?’ Was our first thought. I felt then the full responsibility of that startling measurement…”

Salvatore Pagliuca, Weather Observer and electrical engineer, wrote those words in the observer logbook on April 12, 1934, upon noting a record wind velocity on the summit of Mount Washington of 231 miles per hour.

This record, confirmed by the National Weather Bureau, still stands as the fastest wind speed ever recorded at a staffed, non-automated station. It is here that we turn our attention to the great human effort behind this endeavor.

Peter Crane, curator of the Observatory’s collections, poignantly summarized this massive effort, saying, “The fact that the 1934 Observatory crew could accurately measure a wind of world record magnitude, during a period of very heavy icing, is a tribute to their planning and engineering acumen, as well as their commitment to establishing and maintaining this remote scientific outpost. Sometimes science advances by sparks of genius, but often it depends as much on dogged determination…”

In many ways, this phenomenon, and the successful recording of it, solidified two of the then two-year-old institution’s reasons for being: one, that Mount Washington’s summit was at the confluence of extreme weather discovery; and two, this necessitated both a research institution and continual human engagement with it.

In celebration of the 90^th year of the Big Wind, we’re going to meet the team that was on the mountain that momentous day, and get a snapshot of what the experience was like from their perspective.

April 1934’s record wind was observed and recorded by Salvatore (Sal) Pagliuca, Alex McKenzie, and Wendell Stephenson. The fourth observer, Robert Stone, was transported down the mountain due to a skiing injury a few days before the record wind was observed. Also joining the crew were two guests, Arthur Griffin and George Leslie, two close friends of Pagliuca. Of course, the crew was also accompanied by several feline friends. Much of the accounts below are taken from Alexander A. McKenzie’s 1984 publication “World Record Wind: Measuring Gusts of 231 Miles an Hour,” in dedication to:

“the joint memory of Salvatore Pagliuca and Joseph Brooks Dodge whose sober industry and joyous humor created an institution from a winter’s adventure.”

Arthur (Art) Griffin was a renowned artist and photographer (who created the photographs and portraits below the night before the Big Wind). Known as one of New England’s earliest photojournalists, he shot for The Boston Globe, LIFE, Time, and other major publications, and was a pioneer in color film.

A Massachusetts native, Griffin traveled the northeast and beyond extensively, taking photographs that created a legacy that lives on today at the Griffin Museum of Photography. One can only imagine the artistic opportunities Mount Washington presented, as well as logistical challenges in taking photographs in the extreme weather. To pass the time and for entertainment, Art drew portraits of the crew and took photographs on the eve of the big wind, which perhaps serve as the sole visual documentation of that timeframe.

During research, there was not much background information found on George Leslie, aside from being the second guest of Pagliuca, with a described “cheery presence” that undoubtedly helped throughout the extreme weather event:

“Despite the buffeting of the wind,” McKenzie recounts in World Record Wind, “Art and George made several trips outside to take photographs. Their cheery presence helped relieve the increasing tensions that seemed to build during any severe storm. He continues by noting their sense of humor, as well as their helpful demeanor when it came to chores and duties.

Alexander McKenzie, also known as “Mac,” was an observer and radioman from 1932 to 1937, and notably a member of the Observatory’s founding team. In “Mount Washington Reoccupied,” by Robert S. Monahan (also a founding member), McKenzie is described as “a Dartmouth ’32 graduate of considerable experience in radio and telephony.” He had instrumentally helped Joe Dodge develop a system of radio communication between AMC huts. As noted above, he authored “World Record Wind,” a 30-page publication with an aim to “assemble in one place a multifaceted story of the measurement of a world record wind across the summit of Mount Washington.” In it, McKenzie includes anemometer diagrams, barographs, and wind records alongside personal accounts to create a comprehensive report of that fateful day.

Wendell Stephenson (Steve) was a “1930 graduate of the University of Chicago who could not stand being away from mountains,” according to William Lowell , author of “The Worst Weather on Earth: A History of the Mount Washington Observatory.” Stephenson was well-known in the outdoor community for walking across New Hampshire from Mount Monadnock and volunteering his time at the summit and Pinkham notch. He and his wife started Cardigan Lodge for the AMC later in 1934. “I was willing to do anything…and this was a helluva lot better than the squirrel stew where I’d been living at Carter Notch,” Stephenson said.

Employed at the Observatory at 26 years old in early May 1933 by Joe Dodge, Steve stayed on for over a year. “Mostly I was the cook, except that we all took our duty turns as observer, reading instruments regularly and noting anything unusual.” (Putnam, 1991). On the afternoon of April 12, Stephenson reported an average wind speed of 173 mph with gusts of 220+ mph.

As Weather Observer Alexandra Branton wrote in her April 2023 blog post, Remembering the Big Wind: “His fellow observers could not believe this, insisting that they time the gusts themselves. When Pagliuca began measuring with the stopwatch, the telegraph clicks suddenly increased in frequency. Timing the next three clicks only took 1.17 seconds. Although the calculation to translate this into a wind speed had not been done yet, Pagliuca recalls knowing immediately that it was a record.”

Sal Pagliuca, Chief Observer at the time and for another year following, wrote the logbook entries during the Big Wind. Pagliuca was one of the four original weather observers who founded the Observatory, and according to William L. Putnam in “The Worst Weather on Earth,” he was “well on the way of becoming a professional meteorologist but had been working most recently as hutmaster at the AMC’s newly opened Galehead Hut.” Originally from Aversa, Italy, Pagliuca had extensive training and experience in electrical engineering and a strong interest in science and mountain weather. He had spent 10 months “snapping stop watches” in a laboratory which provided sound practice for the techniques needed that day.

“We had measured by means of an anemometer the highest natural wind velocity ever recorded officially anywhere in the world,” he wrote in his logbook.

Through a snapshot of the individuals present during the record wind event, we can begin to understand and better appreciate both the grit and ingenuity present on the mountain that day, as well as celebrate the crews, then and now, who continue to uphold the tradition of human triumph in the name of weather discovery.

This April, we celebrate the dedicated and diligent individuals at the Observatory during this world record event, as well as the crew, past and present, who continue to uphold the tradition of human triumph in the name of weather discovery.

Join us in celebrating the 90th anniversary of Big Wind Day in just a few weeks. We’ll be offering an array of engaging events to learn, celebrate, and explore this landmark event. Alongside a public celebration in North Conway the weekend of the 12th, we’ll also be featuring digital and print accounts from our archives as well as virtual education programs. Learn more at mountwashington.org/events.