Climate Trends on the Highest Peak of the Northeast: Mount Washington, NH

Georgia L.D. Murray^1,*, Anne M. Colgan², Sarah J. Nelson³, Eric P. Kelsey^3,4, and Kenneth D. Kimball⁵

¹Appalachian Mountain Club, PO Box 298 Gorham, NH 03818. ²Appalachian Mountain Club, 23 Hillside Terrace Montvale, NJ 07645. ³Mount Washington Observatory (Active 2012–2020), 2779 White Mountain Highway, North Conway, NH 03860. ⁴Current address - Plymouth State University, 17 High Street MSC48, Plymouth, NH 03264. ⁵Appalachian Mountain Club, PO Box 596, Jackson, NH 03846. *Corresponding author.

Northeastern Naturalist, Volume 28, Special Issue 11 (2021): 64–82

Abstract
Climate change in mountains can vary with elevation, but there is a paucity of long-term climatological datasets for examination of elevational patterns. In the Northeast, there are 2 robust datasets from the highest peak, Mount Washington Summit and Pinkham Notch, NH. We examined trends for temperature, snow, and other derived climate indicators for the period of 1930s through 2018. Results reveal changing climate conditions, consistent in direction of change, including warming temperatures, changing winters, and extended growing seasons. Differences occur with weaker winter warming on the summit, and snow-related indicators providing unclear results for wind-influenced upper elevations. Recommendations for distributed monitoring, particularly for snow metrics, are encouraged for an improved understanding of the complex climate-change response on the mountains in the Northeast.

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