China to build world's highest wx station on Mt Everest

[senorpepr]

BEIJING (AFP) - China is to build the world's highest weather station at an altitude of 5,300 meters (17,490 feet) on Mount Everest.

The unmanned station will be completed within a year and will record temperature, humidity, air pressure, rainfall and wind speed, Wang Jianshe, from the Tibet Weather Bureau in Lhasa, told state media.

The unpredictable weather on Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, is currently monitored by a meteorological station 90 kilometers (55 miles) away, raising the possibility of errors in forcasting for the treacherous mountain.

Wang, cited by the Xinhua news agency, said the station was part of a drive to build an automatic monitoring network with 41 stations across Tibet.

Some 20-odd expeditions each year seek to conquer the mountain. At least 72 people have died trying to reach the summit.

[Corona]

Since Mt. Everest is so high, and since the jet stream sometimes fluctuates enough downward towards earth, the two meet - and you've probably seen the video. It looks like a high-altitude cross between a hurricane and a blizzard from the edge of a cliff. Climbers do bite it up there regularly. If the altitude doesn't kill ya, the lack of o2, under-conditioning, or a veerrrrrrrrry long step off a very high narrow, icy 'path' will - - or you can be blown off the side of the mountain with the breath of God. Take you pick. Yep, I'd say they need a local weather station up there STAT.