Frozen Bubbles at Mount Washington Observatory

Mount Washington Observatory’s summit crew used a cold January day to watch soap bubbles freeze. The film makes the changing surface visible, turning a familiar plaything into a small weather observation.

Shelter mattered on the cold summit

The crew’s account describes trying more than one spot around the Sherman Adams building. That detail matters: even on the same summit, shelter and local temperature can alter how quickly a thin film changes.

A dated observation, not today's forecast

The observatory's recording is dated 24 January 2011. The account describes severe summit cold and strong winds, with the crew seeking sheltered places around the Sherman Adams building for the demonstration. That choice is central to the scene: the bubbles needed conditions in which their delicate surfaces could be watched, rather than simply exposure to the fiercest wind available.

Explore more: Angela Kelly’s close-up bubble photographs; another cold-weather bubble video.

Video: Frozen Bubbles 01-24-11 (published by Mount Washington Observatory).

Two nearby places, different freezing times

In one sheltered spot, the crew could watch the bubble surface crystallise; in a colder spot, the change appeared much faster. The comparison turns a playful demonstration into an observation about small differences in surroundings. Two locations near the same building can produce noticeably different results, even though a general summit weather description would place them in the same cold episode.

The mixture used by the summit crew

The crew's accompanying recipe used three teaspoons of dish soap, half to one teaspoon of sugar and one to two teaspoons of hot water, mixed gently to avoid making bubbles in the container. Those quantities preserve the reported setup rather than guarantee a repeatable result elsewhere. Mixture, local temperature, shelter and the time available to watch all shaped the recording. The most interesting part is the visible pattern spreading across a thin film, with the observatory's own dated video keeping the observation attached to its source.