Four weathers
The station exists because the summit sees things the valleys cannot. These are the four it is named for.
Inversion
Under winter high pressure, cold air pools in the valleys and the fog settles with it. The Sonnblick stands in sunshine above the deck, and its record diverges from every station below.
UmkehrwetterlageFöhn
South wind crosses the main ridge and comes down dry and warm on the north side. The Goldberg window is one of the classic föhn regions; summit temperatures climb while the valleys stay grey.
South side over, north side downThe ceilometer
How high is the sky today? The instrument answers by firing laser pulses straight up and timing their backscatter, the station's own measure of cloud base.
Zehner-WolkenhöhenmesserSt. Elmo's fire
In winter fogs the masts discharge into the air and glow blue. The instruments logged it; the station's webcam filmed it through 2012–2014.
Discharge, filmedThe summit runs a cold alpine tundra climate, Köppen ET, with a mean of −4.6 °C across 1991–2020. Everything measured here is measured in that.