Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 ft (1,917 m), famous for dangerously erratic weather. For 76 years, until 1996, a weather observatory on the summit held the record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth's surface, 231 mph (372 km/h) (or 103 m/s), on the afternoon of April 12, 1934. Before European settlers arrived, the mountain was known as Agiocochook, or "Home of the Great Spirit".