Contact Details
Biography
Ben hails from New York, where he went to the State University (of New York) and earned a degree in meteorology and math with honors. His main forecasting interest back home is East Coast snow storms. After working at AccuWeather.com in the U.S., which is like graduate school for an operational forecaster, he jumped on what he thought would be a very interesting opportunity to work for NIWA and broaden his horizons in late 2015. Since arriving in New Zealand, Ben has been an operational forecaster at NIWA and regularly appears in radio, TV, and print media when hazardous weather approaches the country. Ben leads NIWA’s Seasonal Climate Outlook project, producing three month outlooks of rainfall, temperature, and a discussion of climate drivers every month - one of NIWA's most popular outputs. Now, alongside NIWA’s data scientists, Ben is leading the charge on NIWA’s new 35-day forecast model, which, in collaboration with the Ministry for Primary Industries, provides public outlooks showing the chance of abnormal dryness and drought. Ben also develops tailored weather and climate products and services in NIWA's High Performance Computing environment for partners in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, is the vice chair of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)-recognised Pacific Regional Climate Centre Network, and a member on the WMO RA-V Expert Team on Climate Services.
Research Outputs
External Profiles
Recently Featured Work
New tool revolutionising drought forecasts
High resolution drought forecasting
In numbers: New Zealand’s wild summer weather
"Exceptional" August atmospheric river sets record
Warm oceans behind our hot, humid weather
