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The Observatory perched atop Mount Washington Photo by Mike Moriarity

You would think that for those who work and live in a place that is shrouded in fog for at least part of the day 300 days out of the year, a sunny and seasonable day atop the summit would be a blessing. Not today! Sure, the summit crew can get a little antsy during those seemingly never-ending foggy spells in anticipation of a chance encounter with sunlight, but when we sit here in the middle of a sunny spell the lack of "weather" can be a drag. Don't get me wrong, though. We relish knowing that when the sun is out we can gaze out upon the distant mountains dotting the horizon. But, you see, we live up here in order to experience nature's wrath. We watch it. We study it. All in all, we enjoy it! In fact, sometimes we take it for granted. Just this week a group of students are attempting to study rime ice and the way it deposits on the summit. Anyone who knows this mountain would know that Mt. Washington is a prime location for such an experiment, and indeed if the students would have come up here about 10 days earlier they would have had more rime for their experiments than they would have known what to do with! However, the group has had nothing but sunny days thus far. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss the fog and the work it takes to keep our instruments free from the depositing rime ice!

Tim Markle - Meteorologist

Note to readers: this is the final entry from the Mount Washington Observers for P.O.V.'s Borders. We hope you'll check out their previous entries, below, and browse through the other guest pages on Border Talk. Thanks for stopping by.

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