Hello, My name is Andrew Sullivan and I’m one of the new fall interns here at the Observatory! I am a recent graduate from Plymouth State University with a Bachelors in Meteorology. I’m from Hanson, Massachusetts (30 minutes south of Boston near Plymouth) so I’m definitely not a “local,” but going to college for 4 years in NH and frequent hiking trips/vacations in the White Mountains has made me pretty used to the environment. Obviously, that doesn’t include Mount Washington— I’ve summited the mountain 3 times before my internship, but living here is a completely different story! On my first day here for shift change, I got thrown right into the thick of it with full fog, rain, and 80 mph gusts.

Before starting at the Observatory I volunteered with my local National Weather Service (NWS) office in Norton and also at the Blue Hills Observatory near Boston. I feel super lucky to be able to work here this fall. While at Plymouth, I did numerous public broadcasts to local TV and the meteorology departments’ YouTube, and also did numerous research projects. This includes case studies, emergency management planning, and ways to improve forecasting. While at the Mount Washington Observatory I’m looking forward to beginning my professional career as a meteorologist.

So far my first week has been amazing. The staff have been super welcoming and this helped a ton with getting comfortable living at 6,288ft. I have been giving tours of the Observatory for the past couple of days and have met some amazing people. I’ve been practicing my forecasting skills and posted my first official forecast for the summit and summit area! Another cool thing is doing the radio broadcast to the nearby AMC hiking huts. I’ve definitely spent some time hiking the nearby trails to Tuckerman Ravine and Mt. Clay and I hope to get to Jefferson before conditions get difficult. For my internship project this fall I plan to study aviation and summit icing events. Super lucky and thankful to be up here and I can’t wait to experience fall (and a little winter) up here on the summit!