JACKSON, N.H. — Wind gusts over 200 miles per hour. Fog cover 60 percent of the time. Frigid temperatures below negative 45 Fahrenheit.
The highest point in the northeastern United States, Mount Washington is infamous for having the worst weather in the world. Up on the top of the mountain, weather observers work around the clock to forecast it, document it, and study it.
Like the intense weather they’re observing, the job comes with some extreme quirks.
In the wintertime, for example, the weather observers have to venture out into frigid cold to make measurements of the wind and precipitation.
“Imagine a night observer in the middle of the night having to come out here and check this can,” said Drew Bush, executive director of the Mount Washington Observatory, pointing to a metal bucket that collects precipitation.
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It sits inside a yellow structure that’s bolted to the ground to withstand high wind speeds. Bush said the staff make their observations hourly and check the can once every six hours, the same way precipitation has been measured for centuries. In the winter, they have to go back inside and melt the contents of the can before they can record the measurement, Bush said. They use the data to produce daily forecasts for the higher summits, in addition to sending it to the National Weather Service to be incorporated into global forecasting models.
At that time of year, average wind speeds reach about 74 miles per hour, equivalent to hurricane force wind. And one in four days during the winter, winds will climb over 100 miles per hour. At 64 miles per hour, the wind starts knocking down anything that’s not bolted down.
“It’ll pull your hat and glasses right off of you,” said Josh Elms, an intern at the observatory. “It can even do structural damage to small buildings.”
The observatory building was designed to withstand winds up to 300 miles per hour. And things are a little bit easier for contemporary weather observers, who are shielded from wind while climbing up on the weather tower, rather than having to climb up onto the roof to take measurements, like the weather observers in the early 20th century did.
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“During particularly bad storms, we can accumulate ice on anything in sight, up to 14 inches per hour,” Elms said. “But that means that our observers are constantly having to go up to de-ice instruments.”
They have a big mallet expressly designed for that purpose.
The positions require weather observers to be on-site at the summit of Mount Washington for shifts that last eight days. Then, they get a six-day break.
Weather observer Karl Philippoff goes back home to New Jersey when he’s not working at the summit.
“We’re up here 24/7,” said Jacob Garside, who is working as an intern at the observatory this summer. “We have bunks downstairs. We have a living room. We have a kitchen.”
There’s also a gym, but working out at 6,288 feet elevation is harder than at sea level.
“You have a great excuse for why it’s hard to climb the stairs up here. You are working with 20 percent less oxygen than you are at the surface,” said Elms. “You can definitely feel that working out… It’s very noticeable.”
They also have a resident summit cat aptly named Nimbus who is a frequent guest on the observatory’s social media channels. The sociable gray shorthair was adopted from the Conway Area Humane Society in 2021, according to his bio.
The tradition of having resident pets dates back to when the observatory was first founded in 1932, “mostly for rodents,” said Jay Broccolo, the director of weather operations. “But also just because it is very secluded up here.”
The seclusion really sets in during the winter months. Broccolo said staff can go an entire week without seeing the sun. And it’s even more secluded for the overnight observer, whose solo shift runs from 6 at night to 6 in the morning. When the road to the summit is snow-covered and closed to cars, staffers have to commute by snowcat.
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“They’re quite alone. So their only interaction with anything living sometimes is a cat other than dinnertime,” said Broccolo. He’s familiar with the demands of that role, which he filled for three years.
The night observer runs the show in the evening hours — alerting the state park staff if anything is afoot in the building. If there’s a big weather event, they can also call in reinforcements — members of the daytime shift, who are sleeping in bunks just one floor down from the observation room.
Broccolo said the current night observer is “absolutely nocturnal” and has had the role for about two decades.
In spite of those quirks, he said it’s actually quite a fun job, awake, in the dark, everyone else fast asleep: “It’s essentially your summit up here,” he said.
Amanda Gokee can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @amanda_gokee.