fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Summer wind & the tempestuous summit of Mount Washington

by Bob Berman
April 1, 2016
in Columns, Nature
0
Mt. Washington (photo by Christopher Schmidt}

At night, a warm summer breeze is heaven. A howling, bitter winter wind is the enemy. Moving air influences our moods. But now, in August, we get an odd paradoxical mix: It’s the least windy time of year in our region. But it’s also the season of thunderstorms, which can briefly bring destructive gusts.

You can experience the very strongest by visiting famous Mount Washington in New Hampshire. It is the windiest place in the entire northern hemisphere – so windy that people itch to experience it for themselves. To accommodate them, the state built a road to the summit back when Abraham Lincoln was in the White House.

This is actually not the right time to do it, even if it’s the most pleasant. Now, in August, the summit’s average wind speed of 24 miles per hour is only about half that of January, which is when things get crazy. Five of those months have seen gusts over 170 miles per hour, exceeding the strongest-ever hurricanes.

I’ve been thinking about this because of a book that I’m finishing, which needed information about winds. So I arranged interviews with the Mount Washington scientists, who live for eight days at a stretch at the observatory atop the summit. I fished for a specific blown-off-the-mountain windspeed. It’s the kind of juicy statistic that conveys a dramatic image. But with the caution typical of a good meteorologist, Dr. Brian Clark wouldn’t give me one.

“There is no threshold wind velocity that will reliably knock people down. It depends on a person’s height and build,” he explained.

“Well, what wind speed will blow you over?” I asked.

“It depends. It’s much harder to stay standing when it’s very gusty, as opposed to a steady wind that you can lean into.”

“How gusty?”

“It depends.”

I wasn’t getting anywhere. I tried a different ploy: “Listen, your own media relations person, Cara Rudio, already told me that most people are knocked off their feet when gusts hit the high 80s or low 90s. Would you agree with her?”

“She said that?”

“Yes.”

This gave Clark some pause. He then insisted that experienced professionals, who venture out each hour to clean ice off instruments and take readings, often remain on their feet even above 100 miles per hour. After all, he explained, the entire staff undergoes “slide and glide training.”

“Well,” he finally and grudgingly conceded, “I guess no one could remain upright at 150 miles per hour.”

Page 1 of 2
12Next
Thank you for reading Hudson Valley One. We rely on your support to continue providing local, substantive news. Please check out our subscription options to keep local journalism alive in the Hudson Valley.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Former town supervisor Joe Katz opens farmstand in Gardiner

Next Post

Keegan Ales opens new homebrew supply store

Bob Berman

Bob Berman, Ulster Publishing’s Night Sky columnist since 1974, is the world’s most widely read astronomer. Since the mid-1990s, his celebrated "Strange Universe" feature has appeared monthly in Astronomy magazine, the largest circulation periodical on the subject. Berman is also the long-time astronomy editor of the Old Farmer’s Almanac. He was Discover magazine’s monthly columnist from 1989-2006. He has authored more than a thousand published mass-market articles and been a guest on such TV shows as Today and Late Night with David Letterman. Berman is director of two Ulster County observatories and the Storm King Observatory at Cornwall. He was adjunct professor of astronomy and physics at Marymount college from 1995-2000.

Related Posts

Waghkonk Notes: Glorious day
Columns

Waghkonk Notes: Glorious day

May 12, 2022
What the newspapers said 100 years ago
Columns

What the newspapers said 100 years ago

May 10, 2022
Night Sky: This week’s total lunar eclipse
Columns

Night Sky: This week’s total lunar eclipse

May 10, 2022
Susan Slotnick: And they wound up here 
Columns

Susan Slotnick: And they wound up here 

May 9, 2022
Night Sky: A great eclipse coming up
Columns

Night Sky: A great eclipse coming up

May 6, 2022
Peak time for birders
Nature

Peak time for birders

May 1, 2022
Next Post

Keegan Ales opens new homebrew supply store

Trending News

  • Bubbe’s Deli opens in Gardiner’s former Mountain Harbor 1.3k views
  • Woodstock Library bond passes 1k views
  • Saugertes man faces multiple charges after domestic disturbance 888 views
  • Six vie for three seats on Saugerties School Board 643 views
  • The moon is down in Central Hudson 564 views







Latest HV1 Podcast

Weather

Kingston
◉
64°
Mostly Cloudy
5:34am8:10pm EDT
Feels like: 64°F
Wind: 2mph E
Humidity: 98%
Pressure: 29.79"Hg
UV index: 0
MonTueWed
79/52°F
68/46°F
72/48°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Ulster County COVID-19 Active Cases

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Login

© 2022 Ulster Publishing