Mountaintop observers defy most brutal weather that China can offer
Print Edition
While much of China basks in the sunshine and warmth of spring, Jiao Xiangzhao, a weather observer in northeast China’s Jilin Province, has been preparing for winter conditions.
Jiao heads a team of seven working at a meteorological observatory perched on top of Mount Changbai, a dormant volcano that has erupted three times since the 16th century, with the last eruption recorded more than 310 years ago.
For his latest shift, he has brought food, barrels of water, gasoline, and extra warm clothes. Shifts usually run from 15 to 30 days.
Jiao has every reason to prepare thoroughly. With an altitude of 2,623 meters, the 60-year-old observatory is subject to some of China’s most brutal weather.
For more than 280 days a year, gale-force winds batters the observatory. The temperature is below freezing for most of the year, and can be as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius in winter.
“Weather equipment manufacturers love us because we can help them test their products in extreme weather conditions,” said Pan Changhong, deputy director of the Changbaishan Meteorological Administration, with which the observatory is affiliated.
For each shift, two or three observers live in the observatory, collecting and uploading data such as temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction, humidity and visibility.
Many of the tasks can be done by machines. “We have a lot of thunderstorms up here, which threaten both people and the equipment,” Jiao said.
Weather observation involves a lot of outdoor work. But for observers working at Mount Changbai, every trip is an adventure.
“With the fierce wind, disorienting fog and heavy snow, one can easily lose one’s bearings,” said Cheng Kun, who worked at the observatory two years ago.
Cheng currently has a managerial role in the administration.
“Before we worked outdoors, we tied one end of a rope around our waists with the other end fixed to the house. This way, we could find our way back and have something to grasp when the wind forced us to our hands and knees,” he said.
Indoor life is not much easier. For most of the year, frozen water pipes paralyze the water supply, which makes showers out of the question.
Apart from adverse weather conditions, weather observers have to live with monotony and loneliness.
“At the beginning you chat with your colleagues, but soon you just run out of topics,” Cheng said.
“We used to read newspapers plastered on the walls to kill time, and over time we could practically recite the stories in them,” said Wang Guoxiang, a veteran weather observer who retired two years ago.
Despite the brutality of the working conditions, weather observers here have maintained high morale.
“Our work is of great significance to the research on the climate of Mount Changbai, for the prevention of forest fires and the protection of the biological diversity of the mountain,” Cheng said.
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