Monday, January 16, 2012

1-15-12 Heralding Winter's Arrival at the Observatory (photos are from the Mt. Washington Obs webcams)

On Saturday afternoon at 4 pm the summit of Mt. Washington was clear. At the time the temperature was -11.0 degrees F and the wind was from the West at 58.1 mph and a windchill of -48.6 degrees F.

View North from the summit of Mt. Washington at the same time the top image appeared in the Observatory's Bretton Woods webcam.

View North at 4 pm on Sunday, 1-15-12.

About 24 hours later the cold temperatures persisted along with elevated winds. At 3:15 pm Sunday the temperature on the summit was -13.3 F with the wind from 316 degrees West at 60.6 mph and a peak gust over the previous 24 hours of 110.4 mph. The windchill Sunday afternoon was minus -52.4 F. Pretty cold! Windchill was expected in the -50 degree range throughout the forecast period. By Monday morning, 1-16-12, the windchill was + 2.6 degrees F with almost no wind but then decreased during the morning to stabilize around -13 degrees F as the wind increased. It will probably warm up in the next few days.

Snow fell on a few days last week with the summit posting 27 inches of snow on Monday, 1-16-12. New snow accumulation at the huts that are open for the winter is in the average of 18 inches. Winter is finally here. Time to get out an enjoy it.

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