Milder Temperatures Finally Return!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mount Washington Observatory <information@mountwashington.org>
Date: Apr 17, 2015 10:16 AM
Subject: Milder Temperatures Finally Return!
To: Guy Ralph Perea Sr President of The United States II <guyperea@rocketmail.com>
Cc:

 

Dear Guy Ralph Perea Sr President of The United States II, Hello from the summit of Mount Washington! Change is in the air as we receive more and more above-freezing temperatures on the summit! Our premium content webcam time lapses show significant melting of snow on the Observation Deck through some of the warmer days we have seen. More warming is expected to come in the near future as temperatures are modeled to break the 40 degree mark multiple times in the coming week! As many of you know, our highest recorded temperature on the summit is 72 degrees, so 40 degrees is starting to get toward T-shirt weather! My role on the summit (other than to be way too optimistic about lukewarm 40 degree temperatures) is twofold. I am here both to record and QC weather data as well as to fulfill any IT needs that arise. I am constantly learning on the job, adapting to the many hurdles that are thrown my way. Recently, I've finished up some improvements on the Current Summit Conditions display. I am also in the process of bringing our dataflow and data management into the 21st century. We're upgrading from serial connected instruments to a logger setup. These powerful loggers communicate with our server to store all incoming data. One of the great aspects of this new system is reliability; instead of losing digital data whenever maintenance is required on servers, the loggers continuously pull data in and communicate all of this information with the server once it comes back online. The new system also brings more versatility; the CR1000 is the industry standard in meteorological data collection, so with the expansion of instrumentation testing and research coming in the near future, adding and removing a temporary instrument will be practically plug-and-play! Thinking back on the Observatory's founding fathers, it's amazing how much technology has improved. Our instrumentation has gone from being completely analog and labor intensive to instruments that can almost run on their own recording high-resolution digital data. Communication on the summit has gone from a wired telegraph connection to the valley to a high-speed microwave link connecting the summit to the whole world via the internet. In the 1930s, a video connection was a far-fetched concept found in science fiction. Today, withstanding some of the most extreme conditions on Earth, the summit is able to connect to classrooms via video, some of which are located halfway across the world!  We've moved from a small, chained-down, wooden building that was barely kept above freezing with a blazing wood fire to a concrete reinforced fortress that protects us from the unbelievably harsh conditions outside. I am very grateful for these gigantic leaps in technology which not only make us more comfortable here on the summit but also assure a high level of accuracy in all the data we're here to record. I'm extremely excited to help our summit technology take the next step into the future! Don't forget, you can help support our IT infrastructure by making a tax-deductible donation to our fiscal year-end campaign by April 30th. -- Michael Dorfman Weather Observer/IT Specialist UPCOMING EVENTS 02 MAY Weather 101 Workshop 16 MAY Annual Meeting 17-18 JUL Seek the Peak   CONNECT WITH US Facebook Twitter YouTube Blog   GET INVOLVED Support the Observatory Become a member Renew your membership

WPXT-TV's MEST UP can be viewed weekly on Thursday at 7:00PM Mount Washington Observatory Teams Up with WPXT-TV for MEST UP In collaboration with WMTW-ABC Meteorologist and Observatory Trustee, Sarah Long, Mount Washington Observatory meteorologists compiled a series of video questions to be included in WPXT-TV's MEST UP, Maine's only STEM game show for high schoolers. This fun, entertaining and educational program puts Maine high school students up against each other as they compete through four rounds of questions, problem solving and teamwork, as they look towards becoming MEST UP Champions and have eternal bragging rights in the subjects of math, engineering, science, and technology. MEST UP can be viewed weekly on WPXT-TV (The CW) Thursday nights at 7:00PM.

The April raffle prize for all participants at the $200 fundraising threshold includes this hammock from Byer of Maine Seek the Peak Fundraising in Full Swing With April now more than half behind us Seek the Peak is quickly approaching. With the warmer temperatures in the past few weeks we have started to see participant fundraising pick up. Don't fall behind! You can still register today and get yourself entered to win some sweet gear. All participants at the $200 fundraising threshold at the end of April will be entered to win an awesome hammock and rain fly package from Byer of Maine! Plus, we still have some Polartec gloves and Darn Tough Vermont Socks to raffle off, AND you'll stay in the monthly raffles until the event. May's raffle prize will be a new pair of Vasque boots! We even have the summit weather observers getting in on the action! Co-Director of Summit Operations Kaitlyn O'Brien has a head start on Weather Observer/IT Specialist Mike Kyle but we've heard rumors of a shift-vs-shift rivalry!

Joe Peters of Vasque Footwear stands near Cragway Turn looking toward Wildcat Mountain Corporate Partners Enjoy Trips to the Summit  The 2014-2015 Winter Trip season is now behind us. In addition to Day Trips, overnight EduTrips, and Climbing Trips led by our partner climbing schools, we also bring other groups to the summit during the winter including some of our corporate partner organizations. This year we were pleased to welcome groups from Eastern Mountain Sports as well as Vasque Footwear and their parent company Red Wing Shoes. Photos from the Vasque trip can be seen on our Facebook page and a quick video from the EMS trip can be seen below.

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