As dawn frosted the jagged peaks, I trudged through knee-deep snow to an alpine meteorological station, where the air crackled with the cold and the metallic tang of scientific equipment. Sunlight spilled over the station’s geodesic dome, turning icicles into prisms that dripped onto sensors measuring wind velocity. A weather vane spun wildly in the gale, its creaks echoing across the empty glacier below. Inside the dome, a researcher adjusted a barometer, her breath fogging the glass. "Watch how the mercury drops before a storm," she said, pointing to a column trembling in its tube. I pressed my palm to a window layered with frost, tracing patterns as a snow bunting fluttered past, its tiny claws leaving prints on the frozen pane. Nearby, a map of the Alps glowed with red dots marking seismic activity, while a printer spat out graphs of temperature fluctuations in jagged lines. Sunlight strengthened, casting long shadows over the station’s antennae, which pierced the sky lik...