Climate change

New Analysis Highlights Warming Atop Mount Washington

Past research showed that Mount Washington's summit had not tipped toward a significant warming trend in contrast to the rates of change at lower elevations

This file photo shows the Mount Washington Observatory in winter.
Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe via Getty Images, File

A new analysis of meteorological data collected atop the Northeast's highest peak is shedding light on how climate change is playing out in the mountains.

Georgia Murray, a staff scientist at the Appalachian Mountain Club, says a shortage of data remains a challenge to understanding climate change on mountains, but fortunately the Mount Washington Observatory has maintained an extensive and continuous record.

She recently published a study analyzing data from the last 15 years from both the observatory's summit weather station and nearby Pinkham Notch.

Past research showed that Mount Washington's summit had not tipped toward a significant warming trend in contrast to the rates of change at lower elevations. But the recent data show that statistically significant warming is in fact taking place at both Mount Washington's summit and Pinkham Notch.

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