From the Valley to the Peak

2019-05-27 09:03:22.000 – Benjamin Charles, Summit Intern

Hello I am Ben Charles and I am one of the new summit Interns at the Mount Washington Observatory. I am from Sparta, New Jersey, where I sparked my desire for adventure by spending my free time hiking, mountain biking and most importantly skiing. As an avid skier I constantly was forecasting for snowstorms in hopes for great powder days on the slopes. This is what brought me to SUNY Oswego where lake effect snow dumps hundreds of inches of snow a year. After four great years of experiencing and forecasting strong winds and heavy snowfall I earned my degree in Meteorology.

After getting a small sample of extreme weather at Oswego I wanted to pursue a career in studying and forecasting extreme weather and there is no better place to do it than none other than the home of the world’s worst weather Mount Washington Observatory. For most of my life I’ve lived in valleys around small hills compared to Mount Washington, but after just spending a week on the tallest mountain in the Northeast I feel right at home, having already experienced a lot of awesome weather from calm sunny days to foggy days with zero visibility and 105 mph winds.

As an intern I will be conducting research throughout the summer called the “Flux Tower Project” with intern Austin Patrick. In the time that I am here I hope to accomplish a lot, by finding definitive results in my research that will help Mount Washington and others, forecast and measure weather phenomena with greater accuracy and precision. But as my first week comes to an end, I look ahead, seeing a summer full of great experiences and most importantly extreme weather.

 

Benjamin Charles, Summit Intern