An analysis of the 1932-2004 air temperature record from the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire, USA

Meteorological observations have been taken continuously at the summit of Mount Washington (44°16'N, 71°18'W, 1905 m ASL) since 1932. An analysis by R.C. Balling of the daily minimum, maximum and mean (calculated as the average of the daily minimum and maximum) temperatures for the period 1939 to 1998 yielded linear increases over this 60-year interval of +0.27°C, +0.04°C and +0.16°C, respectively; none of these changes were judged to be statistically significant (http://www.greeningearthsociety.org/Articles/mtwash.htm).

Until the late 1990s, only the daily summary data used by Balling has been available in digital form. The original, hand-written observation records (5 observations per day from 1932-1934 and hourly thereafter) are now being digitized under the auspices of the AIRMAP program (http://airmap.sr.unh.edu/). Results of an analysis of the air temperature record over this extended interval will be presented.