Watch weather observers battle 100-plus-mph winds on Mount Washington
Mount Washington, New Hampshire is home to the world's worst weather. At 6,288 feet, it's the location where the strongest surface wind gust was recorded -- 231 miles per hour, a reading that was taken on April 12, 1934.
The summit is staffed year-round by a team of intrepid weather observers and interns.
One of the major challenges to making weather observations at the top of the highest peak on the East Coast are the constant high winds that buffet the observatory. In addition, wintry conditions can envelop the mountain in any month of the year, including May.
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The winds are partly the result of the mountain's position at the intersection of several major storm tracks, combined with the local topography, which accelerates the airflow over the treeless peak as if it were a miniature wind tunnel.
On Monday, weather observers Mike Dorfman and Tom Padham took on the challenge of attempting to stand in the face of winds that gusted to 109 miles per hour. The video, posted to the observatory's website and Facebook, demonstrates the power of the winds along with the wintry conditions.
It makes you fully appreciate that air is in fact a fluid and not empty space.
I can identify with Mike and Tom's battle, as I served as a weather intern during the summer of 2005. I too attempted to withstand winds of 100 miles per hour, but was quickly knocked to the ground, and slid across the observation deck. I was forced to crawl back to the observatory door by clinging to the railing, moving inch-by-inch against the howling winds.
Mine was not a strong showing, but it was a lot of fun.
Dorfman wrote about what the wind is like on the summit in a blog post on the observatory's website:
Wind on the summit is an experience that you can’t just describe to understand. It makes you fully appreciate that air is in fact a fluid and not empty space. It is really impossible to safely face down hundred-mile-per-hour winds almost anywhere else; you’d either be risking your life trying to hike into them (I was exhausted after several minutes of playing in the wind) or risking your life in a hurricane, where flying debris and shrapnel poses a huge threat.
Unlike TV reporters who tend to stand on beaches during hurricanes to show dramatic images, the observers on Mount Washington actually conduct scientific research, providing continuous measurements of climate change in the Northeast as well as air quality research.
The weather isn't always inclement on the summit, though. The sights that can be seen during the breaks in the clouds are simply breathtaking.
The summit is famous in weather circles for its rime ice accumulations, which come from tiny supercooled water droplets in clouds that freeze on contact with a surface.
You can visit the Observatory during the summer, via the Mount Washington Auto Road.
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Andrew Freedman is Mashable's Senior Editor for Science and Special Projects. Prior to working at Mashable, Freedman was a Senior Science writer for Climate Central. He has also worked as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly and Greenwire/E&E Daily. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, online at The Weather Channel, and washingtonpost.com, where he wrote a weekly climate science column for the "Capital Weather Gang" blog. He has provided commentary on climate science and policy for Sky News, CBC Radio, NPR, Al Jazeera, Sirius XM Radio, PBS NewsHour, and other national and international outlets. He holds a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
