The Tianchi Meteorological Station is one of China’s best weather stations. It was really difficult to set up and develop this station.

The Tianchi station is at an altitude (海拔) of about 2,620 meters and is about 150 meters away from Tianchi Lake on the top of Changbai Mountain. Weather workers there not only enjoy wonderful sights, but also work under terrible weather conditions.

The average temperature there is -7.3℃ with the lowest of -44.0℃. Every year, there are strong winds in about 269 days with some up to 74 kilometers per hour. Snow can be seen in about 250 days. And there are 56 days of thunderstorms.

The station was set up in 1958 to improve weather information collection. These days, workers also need to pay attention to the effects of climate change and protect the wildlife in Changbai Mountain. Workers stay at the station from June to September. In other months, they check the equipment to keep everything in working order.

Since the station was set up, many workers have done their part in collecting weather information from Changbai Mountain. Jiao Xiangzhao, 53, is one of them. He has worked there for 24 years. He still remembers his first day of work.“Because of the heavy snow, the car we took had to stop when we were one-third of the way to the station. We took four hours to get to the mountain top with heavy bags,” he said.

Over the past years, conditions have improved a lot. Since 2010, new equipment has been used at the station. In 2016, a new building of 1,000 m² was built. Workers could work more safely there.

Working at the station may be hard but important. Jiao feels happy that he can help change the world for the better through his job.