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Tim giving scale to the incredible doorway drifts...
Absolutely incredible. The 24 hour snowfall record for October, which stood for 36 years, shattered a mere 8 days ago, was broken again this morning. The summit picked up 27.5 inches of snow again with this latest storm, 25.7 of it in 24 hours, breaking the old record of 25.5 inches set on October 17th. We’ve had 72 inches of snow now in the last 12 days, nearly 25 % of a normal year’s total!!!
More amazingly, the infamous record for total monthly precipitation set in February of 1969 at 25.56 inches has also been eclipsed, as we sit at 27.85 inches of combined rain and melted snow now for the month of October. Here’s a picture of the Observatory staff celebrating the breaking of the record!
Everyone in the picture took part in the historic walk to the precipitation can across the summit, and honestly we needed all the support in the 90mph winds and whiteout conditions.
This morning, sitting under the relative calm of the upper level low, the essential eye of this storm, we’ve had a moment to walk around in a bit more serenity before sunrise. I can’t find the words to describe the amount of snow on the summit anymore. I’ve used them all on the past storms earlier this month, and now they seem horribly insufficient. October is usually a month of transition, of freezes and thaws, and only averages a mere foot of snow. NEVER has such a complete snow pack built so quickly or so early on Mount Washington. The forest service has even issued an avalanche bulletin on the 5 scale today!
The forecast today…what else…more snow, albeit lighter. Shift change has been delayed until tomorrow, the road…IMPASSABLE. Nearly a foot of snow fell even at the base of the Auto Road. Greg, the Hermit Lakes caretaker in Tucks also reports 24 inches of snow from the storm, and required an arduous 10 minute snowshoe to the snowstake this morning around fallen trees. This has me dreaming of only one thing…taking the rock board down the Sherburne Ski Trail in perhaps the most ski-able condition it’s ever been in October! Until then...lots of shoveling ahead...
What a (nother) storm!
Jim Salge - Observer
http://www.mountwashington.org/
