Low temp this weekend?

[rockin rex]

Another example of how bad the weather can get on the traverse above tree line. I have been above tree with high winds and zero visibility and it is not fun. It is especially scarey with kids because you become solely responsible for their well being. When the winds are blowing you off your feet and you can't see the next cairn your safety very much becomes what you have in your pack. As has been stated so many times on this forum ALWAYS BE PREPARED. It is great to see you were prepared for the weather and all made it across safely even with the horrendus weather. The croo at Lakes are great people.

[Steve M]

Glad to hear you all had a great time and made it through the rough weather. It sure gives you guys a taste of how bad things can get as well as a new experience of life above tree line.

[Bill O]

I had 39.6F on my weather station in VT this morning.

Smashing my three year record for August of 45F. That is to say, I only have three years of data from my VT station.

[Brad]

I had 39.6F on my weather station in VT this morning.

Smashing my three year record for August of 45F. That is to say, I only have three years of data from my VT station.

An Ice Age has started.

[Bill O]

An Ice Age has started.

Clearly. I'll begin profiteering and hoarding.

[Brad]

I just invested heavily in a snow shovel manufacturing company. I took a big loss by pulling the money out of that ice cube maker company. But, this is a sure thing.

[bclark]

The last stretch was insane-it was hailing, the wind was pushing us around, and we could barely see one cairn from the next- but we made it to the summit!

...and being pelted by hail.

Actually, it was sleet that was pelting you. I recorded a mix of sleet and rain most of the day on the summit on Saturday.

Sleet is very similar to hail in the sense that they are both balls of ice, however they form in very different ways.

Hail is formed in the very high, cold cloud tops of severe thunderstorms. The process itself is a bit lengthy to describe, but if someone would like to know I would be glad to explain it.

Sleet on the other hand starts as snow high in the atmosphere then falls through a warm layer of air in the middle of the atmosphere and melts. If this melted snow, which is now rain, then falls through a shallow cold layer at the surface (or in this case Mt. Washington), then it freezes into small pellets of ice, or sleet. If the cold layer at the surface is extremely shallow, then that is when freezing rain will occur because the melted snow does not have time to freeze into sleet.

Also, hail is a result of convection, while sleet falls from stratiform clouds.

Sorry if I am being picky, but as a meteorologist, it is a pet peeve of mine when people don't differentiate between hail and sleet correctly. But then again, us meteorologists can be a little wierd sometimes, haha

But regardless, sleet does definitely hurt when it is hitting your face at 70 mph like it was on Saturday! I was only going outside in that for a few minutes to take an obsevation, I can only imagine what it felt like hiking up Crawford while that was going on!

After we warmed up and ate, we headed back down the Crawford path, took the gulfside to the cog, followed the cog down where they are working on making something (new powerlines I think) untill it caught up with the Jewell which we took down.

What you saw is a powerline being put in along the Cog. It's actually the first time that there will be a power line running from the valley to the summit...once it's finished.

[Steve M]

I just invested heavily in a snow shovel manufacturing company. I took a big loss by pulling the money out of that ice cube maker company. But, this is a sure thing.

I don't know about that, I think you made a mistake. That ice cube maker would sell like hot cakes down here. We can't seem to get below 95 degrees. I'm melting, I'm melting...We need a volcano to erupt over Florida for awhile that would block out the sun!

[Brad]

You are in Florida. That is like on another planet. We have started the Ice Age in VT. Who knows what we are going to do to Florida.

[Bill O]

I saw 32 at Berlin this morning.