From Mountains to More Mountains: This Time with Stronger Winds

By Alyssa Bélanger

On the observation deck in high winds.

Hello there! My name is Alyssa Bélanger and I am a fall intern at the Mount Washington Observatory. I was born and raised in Fort Collins, Colorado and have lived there my whole life, until now. I have visited Quebec north of here, but have never been in the northeast.

I’ve been interested in weather ever since I was little and was on the edge of the 2008 Windsor, CO tornado and remember hunkering down in my kindergarten class. From there, you couldn’t keep me away from staring out the window at lightning storms, wanting to go out in the hail, and always looking at clouds.

I attended Colorado State University and graduated in December 2024 with a B.S. in Natural Sciences. While CSU doesn’t offer an undergraduate meteorology degree, I managed to take several undergraduate and graduate courses relating to weather. I found mesoscale meteorology very intriguing as well as remote sensing and radiation.

I also discovered I have a knack for organic chemistry; I absolutely adore the subject. In my last year and a half and for a semester after I graduated, I was one of several amazing teaching assistants for the course. I discovered I love helping others and explaining challenging topics.

I joined Delphine Farmer’s atmospheric chemistry research group in May 2024, focusing on analyzing air samples using Gas-Chromatography Mass-Spectrometry. In this group, I also learned more about science communication and working to make information more accessible and understandable to the public.

Up at Mount Washington Observatory I’ll be doing a research project focused on fall foliage.  Anthocyanins, which are responsible for the red pigment in leaves, may have some protective properties such as protecting against photo-oxidative damage.  These protective properties could delay senescence.  My goal is to see if there’s a correlation between anthocyanin content and the timing of senescence, including where peak color occurred that year.  

The tower at sunset.

I was so incredibly shocked and grateful to get this internship. When I found out, I called my mom over and we both shared screams of excitement. My family was thrilled that I finally had the chance to live in and study extreme weather. I was very nervous about coming in with not much of a meteorology background, but the community at the Observatory has been very comforting and willing to teach me along the way. I even got my very first forecast out my first shift!

Also on my first shift, we saw the Aurora Borealis. Never having seen this in person, I was speechless.

Northern lights.

Lastly, I have had the honor of meeting Nimbus and sharing some yawns with him.  This was only my first week – I can’t wait to see what happens throughout my time here!

Nimbus.