Full Mt Washington Forecast:
"CURRENT SUMMIT FORECAST
We continue to track an extremely cold arctic front that will impact the higher summits over this forecast period. With the passage of the front, the coldest airmass of the season will usher into the region Friday through Saturday. This exceptionally cold airmass will have the potential to break several minimum temperature records, including Friday’s daily record of -32F, February’s monthly record of -46F, and even the all-time record of -47F. This extremely cold weather event will produce dangerously cold wind chill values Friday through Saturday, which will create life-threatening conditions for those hoping to travel to the higher summits. Due to the harsh cold conditions, a wind chill warning will remain in effect through noon Sunday.
Temperatures will reach 25 below by Friday morning and will continue to steadily fall through the rest of the day. Temperatures will continue to drop through Friday night as the center of the polar vortex crosses the area. Temperatures will bottom out around midnight with model guidances suggesting that the temperatures could drop as low as -47F to -50F. In addition to the cold conditions, winds will also increase and remain considerably strong over this forecast period. The higher summits have already seen a sharp increase in wind speeds, with winds starting off between 70-90 mph by Friday morning. Winds will continue to increase through the rest of the day, with winds speeds reaching 80-100 mph by Friday afternoon. Model guidance is also indicating that the tropopause could dip below the summit Friday night. As a result, winds will become more compressed in the lowest levels of the atmosphere, leading wind speeds to increase even further overnight Friday. The highest wind speeds will occur sometime between Friday night into Saturday morning as wind speeds ramp up to 100-115 mph with gusts up to 135 mph. Higher gusts are not completely out of the question, with the possibility for winds to peak as high as 140 mph very early Saturday morning.
Wind chills will be incredibly low and very dangerous, particularly above treeline. Wind chill values will start around 60 below to 70 below Friday morning and will continue to fall even further over the rest of the day. The coldest air from the center of the polar vortex will move through the region Friday night which will also coincide with the period of strongest winds. As a result, wind chill values will drop to a range of 100 to 110 degrees below zero Friday night.
I want to emphasize the danger of this cold. In these brutally cold conditions, the risk of hypothermia and frostbite will be exponential. These frigid cold conditions will quickly rob you of body heat, with the possibility that frostbite could develop on exposed skin in under a minute. Even small mistakes can prove deadly, with a simple slip or fogged goggles leading to a potentially life-threatening situation. In this type of weather, rescue services will have a difficult time responding to any emergency effectively.
Temperatures will gradually start to moderate on Saturday as the center of the arctic airmass pulls away from the region. Even so, temperatures will only rise to around 20 below to 15 below late Saturday. Winds will also remain elevated Saturday, which will produce dangerously low wind chill values during the day. Temperatures will finally rise to 5 degrees above zero late Saturday night as a warm front tracks north and allows for warm air advection to take place.
Alexis George -- Weather Observer and Meteorologist
Updated at 5:35 AM on Friday"
<p>
Aim for the chopping block. If you aim for the wood, you will have nothing. Aim past the wood, aim through the wood.</p>
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