European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 5, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse By John Noble Wilford new York times new Vork Noble Wilford site of meteorologists Vigil mount Washington Observatory new mount Washington a lot of weather quickly winds encountering a Barrier such As a Mountain accelerate As they squeeze Between Summit and the an atmospheric greatest velocity increases Are nearest the Forward which accounts for fierce winds at prevailing winds at Washington Are Arctic blasts out of the West and this Winter they Are even colder there and throughout Northeast because warming air off Pacific has stalled out winds that have farther to go to get Over the Mountain have to travel faster than the upper much As soldiers taking the Long Way have to run faster to cover the same distance As their it is eight Miles to the Summit by the winding eight hard Miles in driving winds through Snow drifts and Over ice in a Sno plow tractor that but manages to keep a grip on the treacherous at the top after an hour and a the tractor comes to a Stop at the door of the mount Washington where meteorologists maintain a Vigil in some of the most forbidding Winter weather known to fog envelops the rim encrusted weather a 50 mile wind howls out of the a Mere Zephyr com pared with the 109mile gusts the Day before and the 178 mile winds one Day last the temperature is minus 34 degrees a bit warmer than the night All in Guy the Observatory remarks while unloading this was not an unusual Day for the Mountain in with the exception of some isolated peaks in the Arctic and Bradford an alpinist and retired director of the Boston museum of mount Washington has the most severe weather in the in a Winter that has been brutal throughout the North the even More severe conditions on mount Washington serve As clues to future weather at lower altitudes far the Observatory keeps a Crew of two and sometimes three weather watchers on duty at All each Crew living and working a week and then being off a they endure the harsh Monitor it and re port every three hours by radio to the National weather service office in these giving wind Speed and tem barometric Dew precipitation and Cloud contribute to the forecasts of weather in new England and to studies of climate throughout the United the founded in is a nonprofit research besides providing a steady flow of weather under contract to the National weather the Observatory conducts a variety of studies for Industry and government that depend on the High Altitude or foul weather or both cosmic Ray wind weathering of solar icing effects on transmission lines and Jet theres no other station like it in the said Ken the staff we experience a lot of weather Ive seen More weather in the 18 months Ive worked Here than most meteorologists see in a Rancourt stood in the weather room of the Observatory preparing for the next he looked out of the Dou Lepane window at the Light fog Drifting partly obscuring mount Jefferson to the he made a mental note of the scattered Alt stratus Clouds about feet above the Mountain and a higher layer of turning from the Rancourt walked Over to examine the win Speed barome bar graphs and temperature it was now time to face the Rancourt laced up his insulated boots and bundled up in a hooded Parka and Woolen face then he climbed the inside stairs to the top of the Tower to inspect the Pilot a Type of weather vane shaped like a sleek air plane and instrumented to record wind Speed and although the Pitot is equipped with a deicing heating Rancourt still had to tap it a few times to shake off some ice that was beginning to coat the Rancourt stepped out on the Observatory Frost feathers Clung to the railings and moisture carried by the wind solidifies upon Contact with any and the accretion of ice pointed in the direction of the prevailing wind like Rancourt scanned the rest of the sky that could not be seen from the weather room More fog and scattered he read the thermometers near the he waved a Psychrometer in the air several Mea Suring for the relative he made his Way across the roof to the precipitation can no Snow in the last three hours and to the Shack housing the cosmic Ray his Job there was to make sure the Heater was keeping the detectors from the data on cosmic Ray impacts Are recorded at a console Back in the weather the operated by University of new Hampshire determines How Many of the High Energy particles survive attenuation by the atmosphere to reach the Mountain compared with How Many survive to reach detectors at much lower at the univer Sites Campus in Rancourt had time also to inspect a panel of solar cells mounted on the part of a weather Impact study for the Massachusetts Institute of technology and solar Power corporation of returning to the Tower he had to Bend into the struggling to keep from being blown As be Clear Back to Wildcat at about 50 Miles an the winds were relatively but nothing to trifle when the winds exceed 100 the observers never venture out much beyond the a number of circumstances conspire to generate such fierce and cold the prevailing winds Are cold to begin coming As they do out of Canada and the great lakes to the West and they encounter no significant barriers until they reach the presidential Range of the White mountains mount Washington in the Western face of the mountains is gentle with an inclination Seldom greater than 50 so that the winds Rise smoothly up the Side of the mountains and then become compressed and colder toward the sum As air it and at mount Washington it often reaches Dew Point the temperature at which condensation begins just before reaching the this accounts for the almost perpetual fogs and Clouds As the air rises to get Over the it gathers Speed in order for the same volume of air to pass through a More restricted instead of having a passage 000 feet from the ground to the atmospheric lid at the the wind at the Summit is compressed to get through a a vying that approaches the Mountain near the surface at 10 Miles an hour will in this Way be accelerated to As much As 80 at the responding to a Law of aerodynamics known As the Bernoulli the highest winds Ever recorded on the surface of the 231 Miles an swept mount Washington in Back in the warmth of the weather ran court compiled his report and waited for the radio Call from which came precisely at 25 minutes after the ran courts report was this is 20 with airways for at 2005 minus estimated 4 Zero 15 Zero two Miles and minus 34 slant minus 34 2838 gusting 49 slant remarks Light fog tops broken 5 this meant that at 3 Eastern Stan Dard on the fifth of the the skies were partly obscured with a Cloud layer feet above and with an overcast layer at feet visibility was two Miles the temperature was minus 34 degrees and the Dew Point also minus 34 winds were from 280 or North of at 38 with gusts up to 49 knots three tenths f3 of the sky was covered with with another layer below the Summit at the along with data from other was the raw material for the next forecast prepared by the Portland one of 50 forecast centers of the National weather Robert a Boston weather wrote that changes in weather conditions at mount Washington provide important clues in forecasting weather conditions in new especially during the noting that a Rise in temperature and pressure accompanied by diminished winds on the Mountain often presage a heavy Snow in much of the same information was also transmitted to the National climate Center in where it becomes part of the record for what the weather is and has been nationally and regionally Over the Crew relaxes Between shifts and sleeps in the living quarters below the weather the entire Observatory is in a Wing of a new con Crete visitors which caters to the Many tourists in the Palmier times of after dinner one when Rancourt was about to turn the watch Over to Albert something strange Over a period of 45 the temperature surged upward 26 to minus the observers quickly ruled out two possibilities the Shack housing the thermometers was not on fire and the Observatory cat had not snuggled up against a As she some times did As a signal that she wanted to come Back in out of the it turned out that warmer air moving off the Ocean and out of the maritime provinces of Canada came in from the North and for a time beat Back the colder it May have been somewhat but throughout the night the winds raged Well above 100 from it sometimes seemed that a Squadron of Jet air Craft was revving up the winds eventually bringing Back colder air but leaving the skies uncommonly the Only blizzard around the next night was the Milky ways snowy the lights of 80 Miles were clearly but Good weather does not last Long on mount Wash the Clouds began spitting Snow the next of ter run As the Sno plow tractor headed Back Down the Road to the Low Altitude Rigours of Ordinary master safecracker Donald Dpi Cool hand Luke seeking new film by Paul Wyatt United press International Cool hand Luke he of movie Fame the real life Donald Graham Cool hand Luke part of whose life was portrayed in a Book and a 1968 movie starring Paul want killed by vengeful guards As the celluloid version the career criminal was released last sep tember from the Federal correctional Institute at he now lives on mandatory release at a Halfway House in the master who since 1932 has spent 32 years in is trying to interest producers in a new movie or television series on his the first one was he said in an inter i want it to be done just like i lived he estimates he stole million to million in his Safe cracking he suffered a stroke in 1977 at a jail in Green Cove he now uses a Cane to walk and says his reflexes Arent so Cool hand was a recognition of his Safe cracking sex Learned while working for the Mosler Safe he chose Luke i just like the i was the Only Don in where he was born and raised and i always Felt like a Sissy with that Luke cracked hundreds of Bank vaults and he never harmed anyone not even when they were shooting at he escaped Only once from the Leesburg Road the Chaingan prison farm that was the basis of the movie it was the third time he was in not the through the Luke says he got to know some of this country most famous criminals Lester who was known As baby face John Vito bugs Moran and John Paul his longest period of Freedom was 194551 after he escaped from the Ohio state i bet i committed crimes in that he an arrest in for passing on a proved his Luke was extradited Back to where he served two More years in prison and was his latest conviction was on Possession of Worth of Federal Money sentenced to four he was a celebrity at Federal prisons in Atlanta and when he was released from Lexington last the Warden assigned a Captain to drive him to the he was 17 when first it was for driving a car near with the wrong License one his brother had loaned from i Learned to be a he served six months in his next arrest for automobile banditry came in he was convicted for transporting stolen property live chickens in his the Law said the person charged with that crime must be within 200 feet of where the theft took Luke was 35 Miles away when it took them six eight months and 13 Days to realize their i was turned out the front door with in my pocket on the Basic facts of the movie were he except the comedy i never ate 50 eggs wed never get eggs in prison to begin Luke didst like the portrayal of his Mother As a my Mother want like his indomitable spirit became legend at Leesburg and at the Cummins farm state prison in where he helped uncover inmate abuse that later led to an a Book and the movie Brubaker starring Robert of the time he cracked a Safe in the Cummins War Dens he i dont know of a Guy in the world who Ever burglarized a while on mandatory Luke cannot leave the Middle District of Florida without but on 27 he can go wherever he the toughest prison Hes Ever been in Cummins that where they separate the men from the life aint Worth a Nickel Luke was therefrom 1955 to Lexington was the Treyve got men and women together and you do everything except sleep we also had state senators and doctors most of the Money Luke stole he including the Flat payment he received for the i have expensive Luke Hopes for a new movie version of his Story As a Way of earning Money without breaking the of he says i realize its a losing Page 14 the stars and stripes february 1981 the stars and stripes Page 15
