Introduction of Mr. Ryan Buckley

2008-01-11 11:37:31.000 – Ryan Buckley,  Summit Intern

Nice Picture of Tower

Hello Mt. Washington Cohorts,

My name is Ryan Buckley I am a civil engineering student at Wentworth Institute of Technology and I will be the winter intern on Mike, Stacey and Kyle’s shift. I will be up here until the beginning of May when I start class for a required summer semester. Every intern has to work on a project up at the observatory. To make this an acceptable co-op with both the Mount Washington Weather Observatory and Wentworth an engineering school, I had to link my interests of weather and engineering. I chose to do this through avalanche forecasting where science and mechanics collide. So, I will keep you informed periodically on the progress of this project.

Getting used to the weather up here will be a challenge. Before I came up I thought that it would be the cold temperature that would be the hardest to adapt to, but it is the high winds I have had the hardest time getting used to. The wind has affected me so far in two ways, the first is expected; maneuvering around the observation deck or the turret. The feeling that I find most uncomfortable and did not expect is when coming out of the wind and your body still feels like it is outside. I feel this most often when I go to bed and I can hear the wind punishing the building. Most everyone has had the falling feeling when they lie down to sleep, well imagine that but with variable speeds and directions and it lasting until you finally slip in to REM-cycle sleep.

I have only been up here for two and a half days and I have already had two experiences that I have never encountered 1) 100 mph winds and 2) this morning I went out to observe the 6:00 observation and when I came in I was covered in a thin layer of glaze ice. I can’t wait to add to the list.

Ryan Buckley,  Summit Intern