The Cold Spring autonomous weather reporting station along the Cog Railway tracks on the western slope of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald

On a clear day, Mount Washington Observatory scientists can see all the way to the Gulf of Maine, about 67 miles away, with the naked eye.

That distant shimmer disappears whenever a storm rolls in. But those mountaintop scientists can still use technology to see Maine’s future.

The network of automated weather stations that ring New England’s tallest peak offers a detailed sneak peek of the storms that have made Mount Washington famous for having the worst weather in the world. Most roll in from the west, heading straight for Maine.

“We often get the first look at Maine’s weather,” said Jay Broccolo, the director of the observatory’s weather operations. “The more we learn about the weather system, the better your forecasts will be. Not so important on a sunny day, but very important when the weather is bad.”

That is why the addition of five new automated weather stations on the far side of a mountain in another state is good news for Maine. Storms bound for Maine hit the west side of Mount Washington first. Until last month, only the mountain’s east side had any weather stations.

The expansion will do more than just fine-tune Maine’s forecasts, Broccolo said. Lessons they learn about how weather functions at high altitudes can be applied to Maine’s high peaks, like Katahdin and the Bigelow, which remain largely unmonitored due to conservation and funding restrictions.

The developing profile of high-altitude climate change tells scientists what to expect on Maine’s highest peaks, where imperiled alpine plants like Bigelow’s sedge and endangered species like the Katahdin Arctic butterfly can still be found.

Autonomous weather data collection is not new; stations have collected weather data along the Mount Washington Auto Road for almost 20 years. The five $1,600-a-piece stations unveiled last week along the Mount Washington Cog Railway finally add coverage to the mountain’s west side.

Reflected in a window of a Cog Railway passenger car, the Cold Spring autonomous weather reporting station along the Cog Railway tracks on the western slope of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald

Observatory supporters rode a few hundred feet up the mountain in a bright pink railroad car to check out one of the new stations, roast marshmallows and talk about the importance of understanding the iconic mountain, which is a constant for all that live there and a mystery to most who study it.

“Like probably everybody in the White Mountain region, I have this really personal connection to the mountain,” said state Rep. David Paige, D-Conway, describing his daily walks. “I wake up every morning with my cup of coffee and take my dog outside for a walk and we look up at the mountain.”

His mother, grandfather and ancestors dating back to the 1800s did the same. “It’s not just an iconic mountain for the state or New England,” Paige said. “For those of us who live here, it’s a real constant in our lives, across generations.”

The string of new 10-foot-tall data collection tripods, which have an Erector Set-like feel, starts at a 2,600-foot elevation and climbs up the mountain to almost 5,600 feet, to measure temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, solar radiation, soil moisture and temperature, and wind speed and direction.

The stations transmit data continuously – as long as there is enough sunshine to keep the solar-powered batteries charged – to a relay station using solar-powered radio links to send data to the Mount Washington Observatory website for use by its staff, the National Weather Service and the general public.

The observatory’s director of operations, Keith Garrett, said he expects bad weather to “beat the crap out of” the stations he designed to endure the mountain’s notoriously icy conditions and hurricane-strength winds. He’ll likely have to repair most stations in the spring, and replace the highest-elevation ones.

Jay Broccolo, Director of Weather Operations for the Mount Washington Observatory, talks about the five new autonomous weather reporting stations on the western slope of Mount Washington in New Hampshire that are part of the observatory’s mesonet network. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald

Meteorologists will use the additional data to create more detailed weather forecasts, but it will also serve climate scientists, hikers, skiers and climbers heading out into the backcountry and the businesses that serve them, including search-and-rescue organizations.

Broccolo said the expansion will increase resolution and help scientists better understand the flow of weather systems through Mount Washington’s complex terrain, which is the knowledge that can likely be applied to the extreme conditions found in other Northeast mountain ranges.

Meteorologists at the weather service office in Gray welcomed the news of expanded data collection at Mount Washington Observatory.

And Maine can use as many previews of its future as it can get as climate change brings warmer, wetter weather.

The last National Climate Assessment – issued by the White House last November – includes data showing the region is seeing extreme heat on land and at sea, especially in the Gulf of Maine, and more frequent heavy rainstorms than any other region of the country.

Rising sea levels and heavy rains are leading to floods, driving up insurance rates and forcing towns to repair or move roads, bridges and ferry landings. Extreme weather can sometimes mean droughts and floods in succession, wreaking havoc with the growing season, spring thaws and mud season.

Climate change is when average weather conditions vary significantly over long periods, becoming warmer or wetter over decades or centuries. Tying climate change to a single weather event is not easily done, and requires an in-depth analysis that rarely occurs in a small, rural state like Maine.

But last year, when the national assessment was released, meteorologist Chris Legro of the weather service said “it fits with the science” that global warming is causing an increase in the frequency and the power of planetary storms as carbon emissions continue to rise.