Observatories on Mauna Kea Experiences Extended Severe Weather "Event" (Forwarded)

Gemini Observatory
Hilo, Hawaii

Thursday, 07 February 2008

Mauna Kea Experiences Extended Severe Weather "Event"

Since the last week of January, the weather atop Mauna Kea has been,
"atrocious" in the words of Gemini North's Head of Science Operations Inger
Jorgensen. "Since the night starting on January 28th we have been on the sky
only once for a total of 2.3 hours!" she reports.

As of February 7th, the snow and ice on Mauna Kea continue to plague the
summit area and crews have been working almost continuously to keep the
observatories accessible for optimistic night-crews. Ron Koehler of Mauna
Kea Support Services said, "This winter has really worn out the road crew.
They have been working 7 days a week to open the roads to the observatories
only to be faced with the same view of a snow covered road the next day. It
is a nightmare for them facing a deja vu on top of deja vu!"

Meanwhile, below in Hilo (and much of Hawai'i), the rains have been
extremely heavy. One area of the Big Island received over 46" of rain in a
72 hour period and extended periods of lightning and thunder have been
common throughout the state. The system that created this situation consists
of two troughs of low pressure at each end of the island chain that have
remained quasi-stationary for an extended period and have been responsible
for pumping nearly continuous moisture over Hawai'i from the south.

"Obviously when we get a situation like this the observing queue becomes as
stationary as this weather pattern," said Jorgensen who is the primary
staff-person responsible for queue scheduling at Gemini North.

"This winter has been especially stormy on Mauna Kea and we've had an
especially high number of unusable nights so far," said Gemini's Head of
Science Jean-Rene Roy. Previous snowfall and cloudy weather during the
2007-8 winter have proven to be a challenge this year for all of the Mauna
Kea observatories.

SIDEBAR

Typical road report:

Summit Road conditon update 2:30 pm Feb 6 2008

The conditions remain poor at the summit. The road crew will conduct one
more pass between UKIRT to IRTF and will be finished for the day, returning
tomorrow morning. The road is open to observatory vehicles with chains.
Visibility is limited. Snow is still blowing, foggy, drifting. Use caution.

[NOTE: Images supporting this release are available at
http://www.gemini.edu/index.php?opti...sk=view&id=271 ]