Mount Washington is notorious for having the world's worst weather, which is why the person you're about to meet likes the idea of spending the summer here.

So stick around.

You're going to like her too.

♪ Welcome to Windows to the Wild.

I’m Willem Lange.

I'm on Mt.

Washington.

Now, Mount Washington has some of the world's orneriest weather ever.

Here it was that the highest wind speed ever was recorded.

It's the highest peak in the Northeast.

And in February of 2023, it recorded the coldest ever wind chill factor, 109 degrees below zero.

Now think about that.

♪ All of that is exactly why people who love weather come to Mount Washington.

♪ You're a long way from home.

Yes, yes.

How’s you get here?

So I’m headed to grad school in the fall.

Howard University.

And my adviso sent me a couple of internship opportunities and I wanted to get away from home.

I didn't want to be in DC just yet because I'm going to be spend the next five years there.

Yeah.

But I’ve also been at Penn State for the last four years, so this was like the best opportunity to kind of step away, get away and kind of, you know, do something else and stay within the realm of atmospheric science and meteorology.

Mayah Rather grew up in the Maryland suburbs, far away from anything that looks like this.

(WIND) This is.

It's really a beautiful spot.

Yes.

You like it here okay?

Yes.

On a clear day, it's really nice to kind of take a run on the auto road and you kind of see the neighboring mountains and you can just really get that aesthetic.

I do a lot of running on the tread and they have, like, long runs where you get the outdoor vibe, but to actually live through it.

I have a ton of pictures from my runs of actually seeing like the aesthetic of just that in the background.

I'm like, this is really nice.

Yeah.

♪ Mayah's a student.

She just wrapped up for years at Penn State University.

She's a meteorology and atmospheric science major and still has five more years ahead of her at Howard University.

♪ So this is what the typical bunks look like I usually sleep up on the top.

I love it and then you kind of get assigned to your own room.

They live here, at the summit of the Northeast’s highest mountain.

♪ Also notice what the condensation level is though, with respect to the mountain.

So if there is any forcing and we have clouds at due form, they’re going to form below us.

So this is the weather room that we're standing in.

This is where our observers and me as the intern do a lot of work here.

Daytime and nighttime.

How can you observe anything?

It’s just.

Well, yeah, 60% of the year we are in the fog, so this is a typical day on Mount Washington.

(WIND) I just found out about the observatory about maybe a week or two before I applied.

Actually, I started looking at the deck cams after, like, I found out and I was even looking at the maps and I started showing people this is where I'm going.

So towards the end of my semester and even getting ready to graduate, everybody would know me for just looking at the deck cams in the in the hub and just showing them, like, this is where I'm going, this is where I'm going.

♪ Weather is all around us.

Sometimes it gets our attention.

♪ Mostly, though, it comes and goes and moves on its way.

For Mayah, weather came to her a a young age and didn't let go.

How did you know when you were a little that you were interested in weather?

What was your first conscious thought?

Whoa.

This is interesting.

Okay, so I have two stories, one parallel with Hurricane Katrina.

After we’d seen all kind of this stuff on TV in the aftermath of everything, I believe that was in 05 so I was still four years old looking at the TV, pretty much saying, mama, I wish I was a tree.

I wish I was a tree because that's the only thing standing.

So that was like the first time I actually realized, like, okay, that's science tied to, like, you're paying attention also of seeing like the aftermath of storms.

But kind of fast forwarding, we visited CNN Atlanta.

I'm not really sure what year as a child, but that's when I fell in love with the cameras, lights and action I would always tell people.

And I was headed into broadcast meteorology and I knew I wanted to be on TV.

I literally even said I would even do the, traffic stop.

I don't mind, I'll go into journalism.

But I've also always had this love for science from the students of Penn State meteorology, here is your Penn State campus weather service forecast.

Penn State is home to the campus weather service.

It's student run, and it has been for more than 50 years.

It's where some of our future meteorologists, if you'll excuse the expression, get their feet wet.

35 feels like 35.

Dew point 32 and visibility ten miles per hour with calm winds.

Penn State did do a great job giving me the broadcasting experience, as I was a part of campus weather service.

Giving.

I got a lot of my forecasting experience here.

Just here at the observatory because I've never taken a forecasting course at Penn State, so that's kind of given me that.

And then, just headed on to do my studies at Howard, like, okay, this is really starting to come together with communications, with forecasting and really trying to learn how I can mix all three of them has really been the goal right now.

♪ Besides jumping feet first into the science of weather, Mayah has a passion for sharing stories about it.

Well, right now I have an Instagram and a YouTube channel that kind of promotes STEM and academia within the youth.

So I'm just telling people to kind of, you know, do new horizons do new horizons and explore, especially while we're young.

I've also heard about Science in the Mountains here, so I'm trying to partner elementary schools and middle schools back at home to the summit so they too can, maybe not get up here, but at least know about it.

So if it is ever on their bucket list, they know about it.

I want to kind of bridge that gap from PG County Public Schools to the observatory.

Why is it important that they know about it?

Definitely to expand their mindsets and to know that there's other careers and other jobs that you can do, and then also too that you can also leave home and feel comfortable.

You can leave home and come back.

You can leave home and stay away, but you don't have to think that this is all that it is.

This way.

So definitely educating and getting the younger children to know there are other careers.

You could do anything.

You could be a geologist.

You can do environmental science.

You can do meteorology.

There are plethora of places that you can go with your career.

♪ It took a bit of time for Maya to feel comfortable out of her elements.

She remembers what it was like when she learned her internship application to the observatory was accepted.

Surprised.

Definitely grateful.

Nervous.

As I couldn't really secure somewhere to stay on my off week, so I was a little scared.

I was definitely terrified for going so far from home and then coming to a new group and not really knowing anybody and just having that just, you know, come up here.

♪ This is your first boat?

Yes.

You've picked a big one for the first one.

Yes.

Gee.

But they have mountains in Maryland.

Yes, they do, but I'm only 20 minutes from DC, so very suburban.

Yeah, you're down in the flats.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, well.

So you’ve never really been an outdoor person, have you?

Yeah.

No, we did a couple of traveling while young, but it has been some time.

Those were more so like the early 2000s.

Yeah.

When we, we've been to Cape, I've been to Vermont, but that's the thing.

So I knew about the state of New Hampshire.

I just never knew really where it was.

And we came the travel up to Vermont.

I didn't think anything of New Hampshire.

But now coming here, I'm like, wow.

(WIND) But over time, it got better.

Like, I'm very grateful and thankful for the, shift that I was with Alex, Alexis and Stephanie.

They made it a thousand times easier to kind of make the summit feel more like a home.

So it was some adjustment that I had to get used to and quickly.

One member of the team that Mayah works closely with is Alexandra Branton.

She grew up in Florida, and being outdoors meant going to the beach.

Once she finished high school however, that changed.

When I graduated high school, for some reason I just decided that I wanted to be a zipline guide in the mountains of North Carolina.

I don't really know what motivated me to do that, but it sounded like a good plan at the time and I'm really, really happy that I did because that's where I really got to explore my passion for hiking and being in the mountains and things like that.

And then I thought, no, there's not a better place for me to be than here.

I get to integrate my passion for meteorology and my passion for the outdoors.

Like Mayah, Alexandra was a student intern at the observatory.

Now she's part of the staff.

I've been a full time weather observer since July of 2022 and I started as an intern in the summer of 2021.

The time she spent as an intern on Mount Washington paid off back at school.

Being an intern at the Mt.

Washington Observatory really rounded out who I was the meteorologist.

Just because my only experience was with the textbooks at school.

So actually being an intern here at the observatory, I was able to apply what I learned in school and I had also learned how to forecast.

So I didn't really learn how to forecast in school.

And I was able to use all of my knowledge in an operational sense.

With a degree in hand, Alexandra embarked on a career.

She realized that this was the right place for her.

This is one of the most unique jobs in meteorology that I could ever possibly imagine.

I wanted to come back because I loved being in the weather that I forecasted for, I loved being outside, getting to be outside, also having a little bit of office work here and there.

But you're also communicating with the hiking, the climbing, the skiing, the outdoor recreation community, which I am very much a part of.

So I enjoy communicating with that community through this job, which is something that you don't necessarily do with other jobs in meteorology.

So that was a big draw for me coming here.

It’s getting to be outside, getting to getting to still be involved in outdoor recreation while I'm at work and just, you know, being able to live on Mt.

Washington it’s a great experience that not many people get to have All right.

So this is our minimum thermometer, but we can also use it to read the current air temperature with the yellow liquid.

So right now our temperature about 55.4 degrees.

♪ Myah has been a great intern.

We're coming up on her last day, so I'm pretty sad about that as well because she has been such a huge help here on the top of the summit this summer.

♪ She's definitely improved a lot with forecasting.

That's one of the most difficult parts is being able to effectively communicate the weather to the general public, especially here to the hiking community because it is so important that people are aware of things like wind chills and flooding conditions and trail conditions like that.

Do you like sharing this with people?

Yes.

Yeah, definitely.

Especially with the kids so they can see, you know, be up here high.

And feel the wind speeds because it's not at all the wind speeds that you see in the valley and or to see the the pressure.

You know, hiking is an amazing outdoor activity a we really like to enjoy the nature, but safety is first and the forecast provided by the folks here on Mount Washington for the higher summits is unlike any of the other weather forecasting that we’ve found for hiking in these mountains.

So it's more accurate and it's more tailored to the environment here.

So.

♪ So, Mayah, not having a whole lo of experience in the outdoors, she has definitely gotten a lot better at being able to communicate those types of things to the general public.

♪ She's also gotten a little bit more comfortable going outside, being out on the trails a little bit.

So that's good to see.

I always love sharing my passion for the outdoors with anyone and teaching them about that.

It's also been great to see how this is a different experience for her.

Seeing her get sort of outside of her comfort zone, because getting outside of your comfort zone and doing things like that is what rounds you out, not only in your job, but also as a person as you move forward in life.

My parents are definitely extremely proud of me.

They had, an opportunity to come up here as well.

My parents aren't really outdoors as well, so my mother was kind of like, oh, this is nice.

Okay.

Oh, but she was really scared of the mountain and just driving up here with my dad's driving.

But they were kind of excited to, to be exposed to a new scenery as they both kind of go to work every day in D.C., so this is nothing like their typical day back at home.

That's cool.

That’s all I have unless you guys have any more questions.

You guys have a question?

Thank you so much.

No problem, thank you guys.

What have you learned here?

That you didn’t know before.

Definitely forecasting.

Like I said, I've never taken a forecasting class.

So, that was something that I really was kind of excited to learn.

I've learned a ton about the summit alone doing the tours that you guys just saw.

I've learned kind of the artifacts about the previous summit in the early 1930s, in addition to the climatology record that they have.

Like I said, I love the kind of climate studies actually being able to put everything, like I said, from textbooks and putting it into practice has been like a key thing for me in like, applying, applying, applying, and then also kind of learning about the Mount Washington summit story itself.

So aside from just meteorology, because a sign up there literally says mountain meteorology, that's not a class that we offer at Penn State.

So I don't know any mountain meteorology, but, Now you do.

Yeah.

That’s great.

Yeah.

You know, part of forecasting, you gotta learn to say whoops.

Yep.

In a very humble sort of way.

Exactly.

Yeah.

I am learning to be wrong and feeling like growing from it.

Definitely from research.

I'm like, that's the scariest thing.

Presenting those projects.

♪ Mt.

Washington is a beacon for hikers and skiers.

♪ An easier way to the summit and back down is aboard the cog railway.

And for those who have nerves of steel and healthy brakes, there's the auto road.

If you plan to come here, keep the weather in mind.

Now, is predicting the weather up here any different from predicting it, say, in Indiana?

Is it different?

Yes.

So anywhere you go is definitely going to be a big difference from, and what we like to say here, makes a difference between like, the National Weather Service.

So for us, definitely being up here and our observers going out every single day on the hour, every hour, trying to like, kind of follow and give their best forecast of what's going on in addition to the extremes that actually happen up here, where, you know, for some people, like deep in the South, yes, it will be life and death with our tornadoes.

For the summit is kind of the same thing with the, upper level temperatures, the upper level peak gusts that we get.

And the dangers of that, it really changes, you know, a forecast from like being in campus weather service as a student where, you know, if a student forgot their umbrella, they'll just get drenched.

Whereas here, if you, overdo a forecast, you know, that could be somebody's livelihood.

They have to pack and prepare for everything.

So learning that that has really played a crucial role in like really taking time to forecast and, you know, thinking about the things that you would need, the things that you would need to know as you travel to the upper level summits and stuff.

Yeah.

♪ Mayah goes beyond helping forecast the weather.

She learned to experience it.

So you would call yourself an urban, suburban person?

Yes.

Essentially.

Yes.

Even all through four years at Penn State?

Yes.

And suddenly you are not an urban person up here.

Yeah.

Yes, definitely, like, expanding my boundaries and allowing myself to, you know, learn, a lot of the time, like back at home, if it's like literally this literally like about a year ago, snow and I really didn't go play outside.

I was kind of just like, whatever.

I took some measurements.

I did measure the snow, but I was like a typical scientist.

I went outside, I made some measurements.

I made sure, I made sure that my the things that I had I hypothesized were correct and then literally left it that.

But here I'm kind of like, well, no, let's test those boundaries.

Let's go walk around.

Yeah.

Let's try to go for a hike.

Let's try to go for a walk.

(WIND) In addition to the auto road race, I was able to cut it in half.

You did the road race?

Yes.

Now that is a big deal.

The Mount Washington Road Race begins at the base of the Auto Road.

♪ From there, it's all uphill to the summit.

♪ Nice job.

When I say uphill, I mean uphill for 7.6 miles.

♪ It's not for the faint of heart.

♪ How’d you do?

Good for the first time.

I did not run the entire time, I'll be honest, I it was hard.

But the elevation really got to me.

And I'm asthmatic, so that was a little hard.

But other than that kind of walking and pacing myself and running, I used it to kind of, like, motivate me, like, kind of move at your own pace, go.

But, you know, finish.

What was the hardest part?

I would say the closer you get to the summit, that's where it get very steep.

And it's hard.

It's hard to keep running.

Like I was telling myself, three minutes run, three minute walk.

But it slowly was like, one minute run and I was like, woo.

I end up doing like one minute run, five minute walking.

But you got here.

Yes.

That's the big thing.

Yeah.

♪ It's a good life up here.

Yes, yes.

But you'll be back.

Yeah.

I hope so.

Yeah, I definitely will.

Even to come visit.

Yeah.

This is definitely it's it's been remarkable to see this side.

I’ve never really seen, like I said, the mountains and the view I'm like, wow, this is nice to see this raw.

I've been trying to get my nieces and nephews up here, been trying to even show my family, like, look, you guys, this is nice.

♪ Mayah headed back to school at Howard University.

And as it always does, the weather on Mount Washington moved on too ♪ Winter set in and from 600 miles away, called out to it's summer intern.

♪ I feel like this internship will help with my career goals.

Definitely helping with research and I’m continuing with that.

The PhD program does partnership with NOAA, so that is twoosomething I can work with in the future and or consisting with finding other research projects, working with local colleges and universities.

I'm not really sure in these next five years it's really daunting and scary because I I don't really know.

I would refer to myself as a sponge.

I just love to learn.

I love new experiences.

I love to just continue to continue to grow and continue to just form my path.

I don't have an exact answer what the end goal is, but it will be somewhere with research for sure.

Climate change, environmental justice, and kind of keeping track about everything on that.

Current temperature is 45 degree Max temperature from yesterday 53 degrees.

Minimum temperature from yesterday 45 degrees.

♪ Well, we've come once again to that part of the episode that I like least.

The moment we have to say goodbye.

And I hate to do it, especially because it's what you would call a normal day on the peak, right?

Yeah.

60% of the year we're in the fog.

So then we're playing the averages there.

But we still got to say goodbye.

Mayah, I can't thank you enough.

You've been just great and I hope to see you again.

You never know.

Thank you.

And I hope to see you all again on Windows to the Wild.

Support for the production of Windows to the Wild is provided by the Alice J. Reen Charitable Trust, Bailey Charitable Foundation, the Fuller Foundation, Road Scholar and viewers like you.

Thank you.

Make a gift to the wild and support the Willem Lange Endowment Fund, established by a friend of New Hampshire PBS.

To learn how you can keep environmental, nature and outdoor programing possible for years to come, call our development team at (603) 868-4467.

Thank you.

♪