View Full Version : Mt washington observatory
The wind, cold and icing seems to have shut down the anemometer for a period last night according to the wind speed chart. (http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/conditions.php)
I can only guess but the crew must have waited for the wind to subside some before going out to break the ice away.
It was in the 110 mph range when it quit. Wind chill temps at the time were probably -50* or worse.:eek:
Makes one want to open the air on the woodstove just thinking about it.
Wonder what they lubricate that with?
4eyedbuzzard
12-13-2007, 09:31
Wonder what they lubricate that with?
Blood from their cracked and frozen fingers.;)
kayak karl
12-13-2007, 09:34
KY it works when things are cold!
4eyedbuzzard
12-13-2007, 09:35
A balmy -5F here in the Connecticut River valley this am. Good day to hike the internet.
I was partly right when i estimated the wind chill at -50* or worse
It was way off this chart (http://www.weatherimages.org/data/windchill.html)
-10* and 60 mph is -48*
The part you had correct was it was rat nasty. Past a certain point, only the people that have to be out, need to know.
sasquatch2014
12-13-2007, 10:41
Does anyone have the link handy for the realtime stream of data from the obseravation station?
My original post with chart is real time data, check the time on chart.
As an added note, there is a wind chill calculator for off-chart stuff on the bottom of the wind chill link i posted, i was pretty close afterall with the temp at -10 and wind at 110 mph = -55* F. Evidently wind over 40mph does not change wind chill very much.
http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/cam/deck/
warraghiyagey
12-13-2007, 11:30
The wind, cold and icing seems to have shut down the anemometer for a period last night according to the wind speed chart. (http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/conditions.php)
I can only guess but the crew must have waited for the wind to subside some before going out to break the ice away.
It was in the 110 mph range when it quit. Wind chill temps at the time were probably -50* or worse.:eek:
I can't believe the anenometer broke at that speed. I was up there once when the wind was like 236 miles per hour and the anenometer was working just fine.:)
warraghiyagey
12-13-2007, 11:32
Nice to have you back Woodsy. Thought you went on safari.
Chris_Asheville
12-13-2007, 11:39
Has anyone hiked Mt. Washington? Tuckerman Revine?
I can't believe the anenometer broke at that speed. I was up there once when the wind was like 236 miles per hour and the anenometer was working just fine.:)
Wow, suprised you didn't ge blown off and land somewhere in Mass:rolleyes:
Nice to have you back Woodsy. Thought you went on safari.
I did go on a safari, a winter one across the Whites, Greens and to the ADK's in the last blizzard. And then, shortly ater getting back the PC got hijacked for a few days.
Thanks for the welcome back, you make me laugh with some of the comments
like:
I was up there once when the wind was like 236 miles per hour and the anenometer was working just fine
The Old Fhart
12-13-2007, 11:42
Mudhead-"Wonder what they lubricate that with?"The winter anemometer at the Mount Washington Observatory isn't a 3-cup rotating device like the ones you normally think of. Because of the extreme conditions on the summit they use a differential pressure transducer called a 'pitot tube (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitot_tube)'. This is the same sort of device many aircraft have used to measure flight speed. The difference here is the pitot is at a fixed position and the air is flowing by it rather than the other way round in an aircraft.
2804 (pitot tube on left-MWO photo)
In the photo above, the pitot tube, the tail that makes it look like an arrow and allows it to vane into the wind, and the pipe down to the coupling just above the observer's hand, are electrically heated with about 7500 watts of heaters to keep the instrument free of rime ice . Sometimes this isn't enough and I've been up at the top of the tower in 120mph winds at -24ºF with 2 others trying to get ice out of the tip of the pitot. Like the saying goes, don't try this at home! ;)
Oh, and the highest wind recorded since 1980 when the new observatory location was opened is 180mph. I saw winds of 145mph during the winter of 2001-2002 and I believe they have hit about 156 recently. The record high of 231mph (http://www.mountwashington.org/about/visitor/recordwind.php) was recorded and verified by the NWS on April 12,1934
warraghiyagey
12-13-2007, 11:47
Has anyone hiked Mt. Washington? Tuckerman Revine?
You mean ever orrr. . . in the winter? I think a good percentage of folks here have hiked it for sure.
Thanks.
So if it is heated, hum drum lithium grease or such would be enough.
Am I reading this right: The pivot point, and the tube itself are heated?
Is the tube accurate at very low wind speeds, or is there a secondary device for the three days a year it is calm?
DawnTreader
12-13-2007, 13:48
The only hiking I do in the winter is to the mail box.. I'm soft...
Mt. Washington holds a special place in my heart. I first stepped on the AT from the Ammonusuc (sp) ravine trail, and havn't been able to get that damn trail out of my head since. I consider it my "home" mountain...
What an insane place for weather.. unbelievable really
wrongway_08
12-13-2007, 14:01
How is the weather in Jan.? I am planning to head up there the last week of Jan or the first week of Feb.
I hiked this back in Sept., was nice out then but I was hoping for a little more tach climbing.
How is the weather in Jan.? I am planning to head up there the last week of Jan or the first week of Feb.
I hiked this back in Sept., was nice out then but I was hoping for a little more tach climbing.
End of Jan. beginning of Feb. is usually the most brutal part of the winter in the northeast, expect the very worst of cold temps and wind.
I can't believe the anenometer broke at that speed. I was up there once when the wind was like 236 miles per hour and the anenometer was working just fine.:)
And yet the record on April 12, 1934 was 231 mph! :-?
Has anyone hiked Mt. Washington? Tuckerman Revine?
Tucks is known for being avalanche prone, not the best route to take.
Huntington Ravine is less prone to avalanches but more technical.
A picture of Huntington Ravine (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=14300)that I took some years back showing Pinnacle(left) and Central Gulley(right). Central Gulley is the less technical avenue but crampons and ice axe(s) would be standard equipt.
And yet the record on April 12, 1934 was 231 mph! :-?
He was walking into the wind at 5 mph...:D
The Old Fhart
12-13-2007, 16:00
The recommended winter route up Mt Washington from Pinkham is over Lion's Head. I've climbed it a number of times in winter and used to lead annual Jan 1st trips to the summit, weather permitting. For the 4 winters I worked there I took the snocat on the Wednesday shift change.
BTW, wind isn't the only reason the pitot breaks. The pitot tube is about 1" diameter and about 1' long with a tapered end that you could see in the photo I posted. It has a 24V heater and if it isn't cold and the heater is on you could lose some skin or melt nylon touching it. The heaters have been known to burn out and are nasty to replace in those conditions.
The recommended winter route up Mt Washington from Pinkham is over Lion's Head. I've climbed it a number of times in winter and used to lead annual Jan 1st trips to the summit, weather permitting. For the 4 winters I worked there I took the snocat on the Wednesday shift change.
BTW, wind isn't the only reason the pitot breaks. The pitot tube is about 1" diameter and about 1' long with a tapered end that you could see in the photo I posted. It has a 24V heater and if it isn't cold and the heater is on you could lose some skin or melt nylon touching it. The heaters have been known to burn out and are nasty to replace in those conditions.
I was going to mention Lion's Head . On the same day I took the picture posted above and after coming down from a technical ice climb in Pinnacle Gulley,
a major rescue was underway on Lion's Head trail for a man who had slipped on the steeps and wound up in the trees pretty busted up with various fractures/other injuries. This trail might also require traction devices at times so always check trail conditions in the area before setting out. Not sure how the injured one made out on this day but it sounded serious.
Thanks TOF for the info concerning wind measuring instruments up there, didn't know it was a pitot tube measuring windspeed.
wrongway_08
12-13-2007, 17:43
Has anyone hiked Mt. Washington? Tuckerman Revine?
Its great, best route I found was to take the entry trail up to Lions Head, follow Lions head up to the Summit and then take Tuckerman Ravine back down.... Really cool area.
warraghiyagey
12-13-2007, 18:58
He was walking into the wind at 5 mph...:D
Nice save Marta.:) :)
Quick pace!
Enjoyed reading about the pitot tube. Thanks.
24V heater, sounds like battery backup or something interesting. I would think that stuff is modular, but getting at anything up there must have been a struggle.
Hey Woodsy! If Jan. and Feb. are brutal, just what sort of words do you use for our current weather situation? Bruhalfal?
Spray the shovel, here we go again.
The Old Fhart
12-13-2007, 19:45
Mudhead-"24V heater, sounds like battery backup or something interesting. I would think that stuff is modular, but getting at anything up there must have been a struggle."Actually the pitot used is a standard aircraft issue and many plane electrical systems are 24V. Its heater operates of the a.c. line through a transformer. The rest of the 4 or 5 heaters operate from 120VAC through temperature controllers. The pitot is held into the rest of the head assembly with screws and has the electrical and pneumatic connections(for static and total pressure) that have to be sealed to protect them from the weather.
All the zoned heater wiring, thermocouples, hoses, etc, feed down through a protective pipe into the inside of the top of the tower. This tail assembly is about 10' long so to repair the pitot I had to fabricate a boom that would allow the long assembly to be lifted clear of the mounting pipe. Because the boom and pitot assembly have to be lifted up in what feels like the jet stream at times so that the repair work can be done inside where it is warm and protected from the wind, removing, and replacing it after repairs are finished, can only be done in winds less than 10-15MPH and this takes about 4 people.
Hey Woodsy! If Jan. and Feb. are brutal, just what sort of words do you use for our current weather situation? Bruhalfal?
Good old fashioned winter, right out of the 60s era.
Getting ready for the next(Sunday) Noreaster now.
Looking for volunteers to break trail up the AT to Saddleback Mtn next week
Any takers?
Snawful.
I don't like the ice underneath issue. The stuff we are getting now should stick down, pretty light tho.
Seems like more grey and wind, earlier, this year. Just me being a sissy.
I think I'll do some shoveling later in shorts. See if I can freak some whackjob that drives too fast.
4-wheel drive makes you stop faster.