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THE SUMMIT of Mount Washington in New Hampshire endures some of the most brutal weather on Earth. On April 12, 1934, in a small building lashed to the mountain by chains, a crew of weather observers recorded a gust of 231 miles an hour, the strongest wind ever registered on the surface of the planet—a record that stood until a weather station on Barrow Island, Australia, measured a 253 mph gust in 1996. During warmer months, tourists make their way up the mountain’s Auto Road to enjoy cool weather at the peak (it’s never topped 72 degrees there) and to hike and visit the weather-observatory complex. In winter, the…