From Florida Heat to the Rockpile

By Alek Libby

Hi everyone! My name is Alek Libby, and I am one of the summit interns here at Mount Washington Observatory this summer! I recently graduated from Florida State University with a B.S. in Meteorology, and after spending the past several years in Florida, living on the summit has been a pretty dramatic change for me.

I am originally from Minnesota, but I moved to Florida when I was 11. Even after years of heat, humidity, and sweating immediately after walking outside, I have always preferred colder weather. Also, I have always loved wild weather, maybe a little too much. In Florida, I was usually the person outside during hurricane conditions taking on the brunt of the storm. A very smart life choice, of course. So spending a summer living and working in one of the most extreme weather environments in the world sounded like the dream.

My first real introduction to Mount Washington Observatory came during a ski trip to the Omni Mount Washington Resort and Bretton Woods area for Thanksgiving 2019. From the valley, I could see the Observatory sitting up on the summit, and I remember being bummed when I found out we could not go up because it was after the visitor season. Instead, we went to the Weather Discovery Center in North Conway, but the idea of making it to the summit stuck with me. Six years and three applications later, I finally made it up here, not just to visit, but to work!

The mountain wasted absolutely no time introducing itself. Just a few hours after I arrived on my first day, we recorded a 95 mph wind gust. Since then, we’ve experienced wind chills near zero around the end of May and even had a snowball fight in June. Just writing that sentence feels absurd as I have never experienced anything quite like this before.

One of my favorite parts of the internship so far has been forecasting. I have really enjoyed creating and recording radio forecasts for Vermont and New Hampshire, and I recently completed my first Higher Summits Forecast, which took me way too long, but that’s beside the point. Since I hope to pursue a career with the National Weather Service, getting to forecast in an environment like this has been exactly the kind of experience I was hoping for.

Along with forecasting and daily summit operations, I am working on a research project this summer where I will be using PACE-derived NDVI to test whether satellite-based vegetation data can be a good proxy for tracking fall foliage. Simply put, I am looking at whether vegetation “greenness” data can help track how foliage changes through the season. Even though the project is focused on fall, it has been really cool to watch the “leaf-out” process slowly work its way up the slopes during my first couple weeks here!

Outside of forecasting and research, summit life has already been full of fun moments. I have never made a point to watch this many sunsets in such a short period of time, but up here it is completely worth it because every single one is so unique. I also hiked to Lakes of the Clouds and now fully understand why Mount Washington is called “the Rockpile.” I was climbing around on rocks the entire way. I am not even exaggerating. The entire way. I also have to mention the food, because the meals the volunteers have cooked up have been phenomenal. Chicken parm night is currently in first place for my favorite summit meal, but we will see if it gets dethroned! As for Nimbus, I am not a big cat person, but I have come to love the little guy. He has such a funny personality and is a big-time snuggler.

I am only two weeks into my time up here on the summit, but this place has already exceeded expectations. And believe me, the bar was high. I am excited to continue settling into life on the summit, learning from everyone around me, and seeing what else Mount Washington has planned for the rest of the summer!