Ascending with High Winds

By Alonso Lopez

Hi! I am Alonso Lopez, one of four interns at Mount Washington Observatory from August to December, 2026. I was born and raised in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas. In 25 years, I have only managed to visit 4 US States, yet, in only a week, for the drive up to Mount Washington, I over tripled that count to 13 states!

Here I am measuring winds at the summit on my first week. Winds were at 43 mph here.

As a child, I was drawn toward spinny objects and had a fascination with how wind could turn a pinwheel, a rooftop whirlybird vent, and even massive wind turbines. I always got a giggle out of holding an electric fan against the wind and watching it spin as fast as if it were plugged in. A 60 ft. tall elm tree, which I named Deku, in my front yard was my wind gauge early on, yet gusts to ~35 mph would make him whoosh loudly enough for me to run inside out of fear. On May 2, 2007, what felt like the final boss of wind events whacked my neighborhood, with estimated 80 mph wind gusts. Winds a little over double the speed of what I was scared of, but over five times as powerful. Trees fell by the hundreds, fences were blasted apart, roof shingles were peeled off some homes, and my front yard wind gauge was damaged. A derecho, defined as a widespread, long-lived, straight line wind storm, had just moved through.

My obsession with wind ensued, more so after discovering the capabilities of the tornado. Moving air in a storm can shred and rip grass up from the ground, peel away asphalt from a road, throw objects weighing tens of thousands of pounds, and even displace trains and massive steel structures weighing Millions of pounds. Following this passion led me to Texas A&M University where I earned my bachelor’s in meteorology in May 2025 and then found the opportunity of a lifetime.

When I got the news that I was going to be an intern for MWOBS, I legitimately fell out of my chair, ouchie! I told my family and friends, and they were all excited to see me land such an opportunity in the field I loved since childhood. Through all the encouragement, the thought of moving almost 2000 miles from home hit me. The nerves, the anxiety, the uncertainty. Nonetheless, I moved forward and here we are!

Experiences from my first two weeks as an intern have been nothing shy of enthralling. From spectacular views, to staff that have redefined what the term welcoming means, to a new lifetime wind record of 103.9 mph set on September 10, 2026 just to name a few! Knowing the relationship with wind and force, I can calculate that this gust is…

• About 17 times as strong as typical “windy conditions” (25 mph)
• Almost two and a half times as strong as the former strongest wind gust I stood in (66.5 mph)
• About 70% stronger than the derecho event mentioned earlier

However, feeling this raw power is truly humbling as standing becomes difficult, breathing is challenging, and airborne precipitation particles feel like BB gun pellets. In short, I was the equivalent of a human rag-doll.

A gorgeous sunset captured the third day of my second shift.

At the summit, I am involved in producing various forecasts, giving tours, airing forecasts for local radio shows as well as learning the ropes on how to take hourly observations. I am also involved in a research project, one looking into how wind forcefulness changes on objects as rime ice forms. Narrowing down to one specific research topic has been difficult as the wind has a personality more complex than mine.

The goal is to find how the force from the wind (Drag) changes with different wind speeds as ice builds. Drag force is quite well understood already, but there have been few insights into how varying geometry due to riming might impact drag. We will set up a force detector and see how the force changes as ice builds and compare it to the force from just the wind speed. The pitot-static anemometer used to measure the winds of the Summit already use this pressure to calculate the wind speed, and so looking at the pressure data from the instrument, we can get an idea of the force produced on an object in an ice-free state.

The experiences up on the summit are nothing short of remarkable, and yet, I am only halfway through my second shift. I welcome the experiences and challenges that await me for the remainder of my time here, and I am incredibly grateful I got the opportunity to be a part of the team that endures “the world’s worst weather”. I would like to throw in a special thank you to all those who have guided me and supported me up to this point including my family and all of my friends. If I begin to list all the names, we will double the length of this post, so for brevity, I must end it here. I will be thrilled to provide an update, so till’ next time!

A stunning view down from the instrument tower my first day up on the mountain as we entered in and out of the clouds.

Nimbus the summit cat snoozes at his workstation, taking a pawse from his long arduous forecasting duties.

Volunteers Mike Bergeron and Desiree Bolton and I pose in front of my weather vehicle, Win-D, as we round out our week on the summit. Current driving wind speed record is 118.9 mph when going against a powerful headwind. I am curious if I will beat this on the summit this fall.