Hail pounded down onto the rooftop of Charles Sprinkle’s home in Simi Valley on a thunderous night three years ago, sparking the beginning of his hobby and passion in forecasting the weather.
Sprinkle, a third-year physics student, enjoys forecasting the weather because he likes to think of it as predicting the future, he said.
Sprinkle has posted weather forecasts on his Facebook page “Charles Sprinkle, Weather Enthusiast” for the last two years and began posting weekly weather forecasts on his floor in Sproul, Sprinkle said.
For his Facebook weather posts, Sprinkle spends hours in front of his laptop tracking the movement and speed of rain cells and time of impact on a town, he said.
To forecast the weather, he uses the National Weather Service combined with weather models, Sprinkle said.
Kee-Hwan Kim, a third-year physics student at UCLA and Sprinkle’s roommate, said he has known Sprinkle for a few years.
One time, Sprinkle predicted it would rain on a Wednesday a week in advance, Kim said. It ended up raining on that same day.
Sprinkle posts weather changes such as rain and heat waves that are out of the ordinary, Sprinkle said.
It is important to inform people about the weather and determine what it is going to be because it can help people plan their schedules and outfits, Sprinkle said. It is important for people to plan ahead, he added.
“You do stuff outside all the time. It makes sense to know how to dress,” Sprinkle said. “You don’t want to wear a big thick coat when it is going to be 80 outside.”
While Sprinkle is passionate about forecasting the weather, his goal is to become a physics professor, he said.
Sprinkle plans to minor in weather through the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences department or by taking weather forecasting classes, he said. After becoming a physics professor, he may want to pursue a career in weather forecasting.