Rate the Climate: Mt. Washington, New Hampshire (snowfall, warm, recorded)

[nei]

Since some people like arctic / sub-arctic climates.

For those of you unfamiliar, Mt. Washington is the highest peak in New England (elevation 6288 ft / 1917 m). About 200 miles from me. Elevation 6288 ft. Great place to visit depending on the weather.

Averages:

High (°F) / Low (°F) / Precipitation (in) / Snowfall (in):

Jan: 14.0/ -3.7 / 8.52 / 50.4
Feb: 14.8 / -1.7 / 7.33 / 48.2
Mar: 21.3 / 5.9 / 9.42 / 51.0
Apr 29.4 / 16.4 / 8.43 / 40.8
May: 41.6 / 29.5 / 8.21 / 11.3
Jun: 50.3 / 38.5 / 8.36 / 1.2
Jul: 54.1 / 43.3 / 8.02 / 0
Aug: 53.0 / 42.1 / 8.08 / 0.3
Sep: 46.1 / 34.6 / 8.55 / 2.2
Oct: 36.4 / 24.0 / 7.66 / 14.0
Nov: 27.6 / 13.6 / 10.49 / 40.4
Dec: 18.5 / 1.7 / 8.84 /55.0

Average Annual Precipitation: 101.91
Average Annual Snowfall: 314.8
Average Windspeed in January: 46.3 mph
Average Windspeed in July: 25.3 mph
Highest wind speed recorded: 231 mph

Can't find sunshine hours but I assume it's abysmal. Found sunshine % by month. Average seems to be 33% or so. Sunniest month is October with 38%, least sunniest is November is the lowest with 29%. July and December also averages 30%.

I attached a few photos I took of Mt. Washington on September 18 last year.

You may find this silly video taken by weathermen on the mountain in January entertaining:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC3DUwseZn8

[jp03]

Originally Posted by nei

Since some people like arctic / sub-arctic climates.

For those of you unfamiliar, Mt. Washington is the highest peak in New England (elevation 6288 ft / 1917 m). About 200 miles from me. Elevation 6288 ft. Great place to visit depending on the weather.

Averages:

High (°F) / Low (°F) / Precipitation (in) / Snowfall (in):

Jan: 14.0/ -3.7 / 8.52 / 50.4
Feb: 14.8 / -1.7 / 7.33 / 48.2
Mar: 21.3 / 5.9 / 9.42 / 51.0
Apr 29.4 / 16.4 / 8.43 / 40.8
May: 41.6 / 29.5 / 8.21 / 11.3
Jun: 50.3 / 38.5 / 8.36 / 1.2
Jul: 54.1 / 43.3 / 8.02 / 0
Aug: 53.0 / 42.1 / 8.08 / 0.3
Sep: 46.1 / 34.6 / 8.55 / 2.2
Oct: 36.4 / 24.0 / 7.66 / 14.0
Nov: 27.6 / 13.6 / 10.49 / 40.4
Dec: 18.5 / 1.7 / 8.84 /55.0

Average Annual Precipitation: 101.91
Average Annual Snowfall: 314.8
Average Windspeed in January: 46.3 mph
Average Windspeed in July: 25.3 mph
Highest wind speed recorded: 231 mph

Can't find sunshine hours but I assume it's abysmal. Found sunshine % by month. Average seems to be 33% or so. Sunniest month is October with 38%, least sunniest is November is the lowest with 29%. July and December also averages 30%.

I attached a few photos I took of Mt. Washington on September 18 last year.

You may find this silly video taken by weathermen on the mountain in January entertaining:


YouTube - Boiling Water to Snow in Hurricane Force Winds 01-17-07

You gave this an A? I'm baffled ..what do you want this rated as? A place to live ?

[Optional Angel]

Wayyy too cold!! When the only month that it doesn't snow is July, you know there's something wrong with your climate. 46 mph winds in January? The wind chill must be like -40. Holy crap.

F. :c

[RWood]

F/f-.

[deneb78]

An obvious F from me.. but it would be an interesting challenge to climb the mountain

[nei]

Originally Posted by jp03

You gave this an A? I'm baffled ..what do you want this rated as? A place to live ?

No, I gave it an F. Horrible temperatures and weather, somewhat unfit for human habitation. Potentially lethal at times. If this place doesn't deserve an F, than very few places in the world do.

[cjg5]

Too much precipitation. Could use a warmer summer. Really only gets to spring/fall, really, with no summer. Not even a single month of 60 or better. Sadly, I must issue another F for this.

[ChesterNZ]

F. What a horrible climate! Surely no one lives there? The combination of cold temps, very high precipitation, cloud and gale force winds make this a truly awful climate.

I think we need to extend the grading system further into the alphabet to allow for lower grades for all these arctic climates!

[ben86]

Had to give it an F for liveability but probably deserves higher for interesting weather. Why is the weather there that bad (particularly the wind) considering it's not that high a mountain and other places at 1900m are relatively benign?

P.S. That abysmal 30% sunshine is probably still better than in Leeds...

[Optional Angel]

Originally Posted by ben86

Had to give it an F for liveability but probably deserves higher for interesting weather. Why is the weather there that bad (particularly the wind) considering it's not that high a mountain and other places at 1900m are relatively benign?

P.S. That abysmal 30% sunshine is probably still better than in Leeds...

I think I saw it on the Discovery Channel somewhere that it has to do with the shape of the mountain. It catches all the win from the valley below and launches it right over, causing those hurricane-force winds. Not really sure why it's so cold at that latitude at only 6,000 feet, might have it do with it being inland and maybe that wind is bringing in cold fronts from Canada? Not sure, but it is a pretty hostile place for that elevation/latitude.