MOUNT WASHINGTON OBSERVATORY IS REFOCUSING EFFORTS WITH AN EMPHASIS ON ITS MISSION IN RESEARCH AND CLIMATE SCIENCE

North Conway, NH – October 23, 2020 – The Board of Trustees of the non-profit Mount Washington Observatory (MWO) announced that it has taken significant steps in recent months to evaluate and refocus its core work and program offerings with an emphasis on its mission of performing weather observation and climate research. One outcome of this plan is the closure of the Weather Discovery Center Museum (WDC) located in North Conway, New Hampshire. 

“In March of 2020 the Board initiated steps to re-evaluate MWOs offerings and focus with the intention of getting back to our core mission. We started the process with the appointment of Donna Dunn as Interim Executive Director who specializes in restructuring and strategically positioning organizations,” said Board Chairman Gary MacDonald. “We were a few weeks in to this process when the pandemic set in and created an added urgency for change and reinforced a need for the realignment of the organization.” 

Museum exhibits will be repurposed and displayed in other area locations. 

MWOs operation of its manned weather station located in the Mount Washington State Park Sherman Adams building on the summit of Mount Washington continues in full operation with MWO Weather Observers taking hourly weather observation, conducting virtual educational programs, research and product testing.

“It was a very difficult decision to close the WDC because of its history and educational value but ultimately it was not sustainable and not aligned with our strengths. We have a dedicated and eager staff that is excited to hone in on our core work and expand our research utilizing our nearly 90-year data set which also fuels our educational content and work with other scientists performing research in climate science,” said Interim Executive Director Donna Dunn. “We’ve recently completed a critical review and analysis of our data set providing a new research grade data set that will allow us to give great access to researchers both internally and externally.”

Although the Weather Discovery Center Museum will close, the other entities housed at the 2779 White Mountain Highway building will remain operational including MWOs Gladys Brooks Memorial Library, MWO Administrative Staff offices and The Citizen’s Bank. The property will be reconfigured and a portion will be sublet.

MWO will soon announce dates for a close out sale of museum retail items.

About Mount Washington Observatory:

Mount Washington Observatory is a private, nonprofit, member-supported institution with a mission to advance understanding of the natural systems that create the Earth's weather and climate. Since 1932, the Observatory has been monitoring the elements from its weather station on the summit of Mount Washington, using this unique site for scientific research and educational outreach. For more information, call (800) 706-0432 or visit MountWashington.org.

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