Weather and Clouds at the World's Highest Peak
Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth, is an awe inspiring and impressive natural landmark yet surprisingly little data exists for the region. The extreme environment has proven challenging for data collection both temporally and spatially, and servicing of weather stations can only take place during specified climbing windows. During the 2019 climbing season, five Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs), including the two highest stations at 7,945 and 8,430 m MSL, were installed along the summit route of Mount Everest as part of the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Expedition. In addition to an AWS the Basecamp station, located at 5,315 m, was outfitted with a camera programed to take twice daily photos of Mount Everest’s peak. In this talk I will discuss our use of AWS and photographic data from these newly installed stations to better understand the weather impacting the climbing route and peak, cloud formation across the seasons, and the impact these have on the surrounding region and communities in terms of water availability and tourism.
