Memories of life among the elements at France's Mont Aigoual weather station
Cévennes – Mont Aigoual in southern France is famous for its weather station, built in 1894. Until recently, the remote site was staffed round the clock – but now it has become fully automated. The last technician to be posted there as head of the observatory shares her memories with RFI.
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Chantal Vimpère, a technician for the French weather service Météo France, was the first woman in France to lead a weather station.
After a career in Paris, she asked to be transferred to Mont Aigoual, in the Cévennes National Park, and decided to stay. She retired earlier this year.
"When I arrived in 2003, I thought I'd only stay a few months, but I'd left Paris anyway. And in the end, I met so many fantastic people who told me all about Aigoual and its heritage," she told RFI.
Solidarity in the mountains
Vimpère remembers that despite the tough winters, at an altitude of 1,567 metres, there was a real sense of solidarity and pragmatism.
"I think the main thing here is to be careful, especially in winter, to be vigilant and to look out for others. If we're not in it together, we're screwed," she said.
"Many mornings I'd get up and say to myself: 'Oh no, the power's out, I can't even make myself a coffee!'"
The meteorologists used to stay almost a week at the weather station, round the clock, until the next rotation.
"Living 24 hours a day for five or six days in a row, we each had our own room. And when someone was there, whether planned or unexpected, we took in people who got lost in the snow in winter. That won't be possible any more," Vimpère says.
She remembers having to stock up on supplies for the week and always be sure that the freezers were full.
"I experienced that with my grandparents who had a farm... there was always someone arriving unexpectedly ... And here, it's the same ... trying to find a room, trying to share a moment. And that's how we came up with our stories," Vimpère says.
Life with the elements
One of the main challenges in Mont Aigoual is dealing with the elements.
"We really feel the weather here. I'm not saying you have to put up with it, but you have to live with it," Vimpère says.
She and her colleagues also had to observe it, measuring different parameters such as temperature and precipitation.
"One of the most characteristic parameters is the wind or the fog – 241 days a year," she notes.
When the rain gauge on the roof of the observatory was under two metres of snow, she had to clear it away.
Vimpère wonders who will take care of maintenance now there is no longer anyone on site, "even though the forecasts are saying that there will be less and less snow with climate change".
"This is another story that's taking shape, that's going to change," she remarks, referring to the building's new life as an education centre.
Since 1 July, it has become "Le Climatographe" – a centre dedicated to teaching people about climate change.
But Vimpère fears that without a year-round presence, the memories of the place will be lost.
From weather data to climate change
The site will officially be run by Météo France until the end of October.
The weather station is now fully automated and satellite data is sent to Toulouse in the south-west, around 250 kilometres away.
"Now we don't actually observe anything. We used to produce a forecast bulletin three times a day until 2012. But above all, we had records," says Vimpère.
The observations collected at Mont Aigoual form one of the world's longest series of climatological records.
The data meticulously recorded by generations of forecasters and meteorologists since 1894 paint a picture of a profoundly changing climate.
"To go from weather to climate, you need continuity and a sufficiently long period of time – about 30 years," Vimpère explains.
"The only parameter that hasn't changed since 1895 on Mont Aigoual is the fog."
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