New Hampshire SuperGraphic

Introduction

What started out as a fairly pleasant morning atop New Hampshire's Mount Washington, a beautiful but relatively small peak, turned into a weather phenomenon that would go down in history. Seventy one years ago, Mount Washington experienced the windiest day its ever seen ... though to call it windy would be an understatement. On April 12, 1934, the Mount Washington Observatory anemometer recorded an astonishing wind speed of 231 miles per hour (mph). Not only did this small observatory make history, it continues to maintain its reputation of having some of the "worst weather in the world," according to meteorologists.

This record-breaking wind proved that real weather extremes do rule mountaintops. Freezing cold temperatures, exceptionally high winds, dense fog, heavy icing and abundant snowfall on Mount Washington rival some of the most rugged places on Earth, including Antarctica. The life-threatening weather extremes here far exceed those which have been recorded in the polar regions and on peaks three and four times Mount Washington's height.

Who would have thought that this little peak in New Hampshire, a place that appears so beautiful and serene to distant onlookers, would be home to the worst weather in the world? Let's take a closer look into this unique atmospheric phenomenon.