135+ mph wind gusts possible atop Mount Washington on Monday
NORTH CONWAY, N.H. - It's going to be a windy day on Mount Washington, to put it mildly.
The summit could see gusts of up to 135 mph on Monday, according to the Mount Washington Observatory's forecast. That's the kind of wind observed in a major Category 4 hurricane.
There's a chance the winds could reach even higher speeds, according to Observatory staff meteorologist Ryan Knapp.
"A couple of models are hinting at 140 to 150 mph gusts this morning, but as of this morning, these look to remain more aloft and to our east in most of the other models," Knapp wrote Monday morning. "That being said though, the possibility of a rogue gust or two up to this range cannot be completely ruled out."
Winds out of the northwest will be a steady 95 mph to 110 mph out of the northwest during the day, under mostly sunny skies with blowing snow.
The relatively low winds & clear conditions from this morning (pic 1) have been replaced with fog, blowing snow, & 100+ mph winds (pic 2). Winds will be increasing overnight into Monday. You can track how high they reach on our Current Summit Conditions https://t.co/19MbrZ7kZm pic.twitter.com/YiHHaAnQSa
— Mount Washington Observatory (MWO) (@MWObs) March 6, 2023
The wind chill could be as low as 35 below zero. A month ago, the summit set what's believed to be a national wind chill record of 108 degrees below zero.
New England's highest peak is known for having some of the harshest weather conditions on the planet. The strongest wind gust ever recorded on Mount Washington was 231 mph on April 12, 1934 - it stood as a world record for almost 62 years.