My Fall Adventure Observing Mountain Weather

By Ingrid Miller

Hello everyone! My name is Ingrid Miller and I am one of the fall interns at Mount Washington Observatory. I grew up in Vermont and spent many weekends hiking in the White Mountains with my family. I fell in love with the unique landscape, weather, and ecosystem. This spring I graduated from Bowdoin College with a major in Earth and Oceanographic Sciences and a minor in Visual Arts. I enjoyed learning about climate and earth processes, especially having the chance to study the ocean while in coastal Maine. I am excited to continue learning by observing mountain weather from the summit of Mount Washington!

Sunset on my first night- I still can’t believe this is where I get to spend the next couple of months!

The first few days of my shift were clear and calm, allowing me to take some short hikes around the summit. At sunset on my first night, we could see 130 miles all the way to Whiteface Mountain in New York! As the shift has progressed things have become even more exciting. I gave my first morning radio forecast for the AMC, started giving tours, and think I have finally learned my way around the summit building (maybe)!

Morning radio forecast for the AMC.

The weather has also developed! On Saturday afternoon we watched a cold front roll in over Vermont while racing to get the Taylor Vane heater operational before icing began. Winds picked up and I am starting to get to hear the sounds they make in the tower. This morning I accompanied Francis and Karl while they de-iced the instruments on the tower!

Karl aligning the Taylor Vane.

My first week on the summit has been filled with many new experiences. The knowledge and guidance of the observers Karl, Francis, and Ryan, and our museum attendant, Kelly, has helped me to make sense of it all. Not to mention the friendly welcome from our volunteers this week, Karen and Kathleen! I have also enjoyed meeting Nimbus, who always makes me smile, and Henry, who always greets you with a smile.  

Henry the museum vacuum cleaner.

As I was writing this blog, Francis distracted me by saying “we are about to see the first snowfall of the season.” So of course I had to head up to the observation deck to check out the snow and graupel! I am looking forward to watching the mountain shift from summer to winter over the course of my internship as well as developing my own research investigating long-term precipitation trends using our dataset, and learning as much as possible.

I noticed a small patch of iced mountain aster blowing in the wind while exploring the summit.