For many years now, the Observatory has run an internship program. This program allows individuals to live and work on the summit on the same week-on, week-off schedule that full time staff work. The internship spans over a few months and essentially follows the college semester schedule. Summer internships last from May until August, fall from August to December, and Winter/Spring from January to May.

An internship with the Mount Washington Observatory is indeed a unique opportunity. I can certainly speak from experience since I am a former intern myself, having completed my internship during the winter/spring of 2006. To be quite honest, it was an experience that, even if I had not come back as a full time employee, I would have remembered for the rest of my life. Not to mention it is a great way to build a resume.

The duties of an intern vary depending on the skills and interests of a particular intern, as well as the season they are working in. Regardless, general intern tasks include helping and learning to do hourly weather observations, helping with forecasting, working with instrumentation and associated technology on the summit, maintaining research projects, completing a personal intern project, and just in general helping in the daily operation of the summit weather station(for example, shoveling snow from in front of emergency exits during the winter).

While we do get quite a few applications from meteorology students and graduates for internships, this is certainly not a requirement. In fact, we have had lots of interns that were not from a meteorological background. Just a couple examples in recent years include one intern that had just graduated high school and one that was a fine arts major, both of which turned out to be fantastic interns. The only absolute requirement is that the applicant be over 18. You can check out our website here for a few more details on what we look for in an applicant.

Right now, we are looking for applications for the fall internship. The deadline for applications is July 15, which is coming up fast. Interviews for qualified candidates would then start soon after that deadline,with start dates sometime in mid to late August. The fall internship is particularly unique because when you start, the summit is still teeming with tourists and the weather is obviously quite summer like. However, by the time a fall intern finishes in December, the summit building is closed to the public, winter weather has taken over, and transportation up and down the mountain has typically changed from a van to our snow tractor.

So, if you are interested, I encourage you to complete an application on our website!

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