Becoming a Great Forecaster Part I

Becoming a Great Forecaster - Part III
	-- Online credited learning -- advanced meteorology concepts in 4 dimensions. "CGAWXF"

Mission
The MetEd (Meteorology Education and Training) Website was established to provide education and training resources to benefit the operational forecaster community, university atmospheric scientists and students, and anyone interested in learning more deeply about meteorology and weather forecasting topics. The site houses online learning materials, as well as information on other training and education activities, such as classroom courses and teletraining, and links to other related resources. MetEd is populated and maintained by the COMET Program, which is part of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research's (UCAR's) Office of Programs (UOP). The MetEd Website is made possible by the sponsors of the COMET Program.
Comet

Lots of great stuff here, I've only provided a few of the links
Jeff

Topics
Aviation Weather
Climate
Coastal Weather
Convective Weather
Emergency Mgmnt
Fire Weather
Fog and Low Stratus
Hurricanes/Tropical
Hydrology/Flooding
Marine Met/Oceans
Mesoscale Met
Mountain Met
NWP (Modeling)
QPF (Precipitation)
Radar Meteorology
Satellite Meteorology
Space Weather
Winter Weather
Other
List of all Modules

Community
SOOs
WCMs
Northern Latitudes - The One and Only
NPOESS Userport
Broadcast Met
Meteo Forum
K-12 and the Public
Higher Education

Resources
Accounts/Registration
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NWS Training Portal
Outside Links
Spanish Resources

Courses
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Distance Courses

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WES Cases
NorLatMet Cases
NWP Cases

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What's new?
Coming Soon

Outside source links below

Forecasting Fog/Low Stratus for Aviation Operations	DLAC 1 -- Here
Producing Customer-Focused TAFs	DLAC 2 -- Here
	Mesoscale Meteorological Primer -- Here
OR see below for listing of this curriculum

Section I

Distance Learning Aviation Course 1 (DLAC 1): -- Click here for website and courses
Forecasting Fog/Low Stratus for Aviation Operations

DLAC 1 is designed to give forecasters a comprehensive understanding of the physical mechanisms, synoptic patterns, and mesoscale features involved in fog/stratus generation and dissipation, as well as the latest forecast tools used to predict these challenging events.

Lesson 1 >> Fog/ Stratus Forecasting Basics

- Fog and Stratus Forecasting Approaches
- Radiation Fog

Lesson 2 >> Assessing Preconditions and Anticipating Formation
Dissipation.

- Synoptic Weather Considerations

- Local Influences on Fog and Low Stratus

- Assessing Climatology in Fog/Stratus Forecasting

- Applying Diagnostic and Forecast Tools

- Case Study: A New England Fog Event

Lesson 3 >> Customer Impacts and TAFs

- Customer Impacts

- Writing Effective TAFs

- Case Study: A Northern Plains Cold-Air
Outbreak Event

Section II

Distance Learning Aviation Course 2 (DLAC 2): -- Click here for website and courses
Producing Customer-Focused TAFs

Excessive use of conditional language, overly long TAFs, and TAFs that are not amended in a timely manner are some of the things that hamper the end user's ability to understand the forecast and make correct decisions, often resulting in substantial negative economic impact. DLAC 2 addresses these problems by focusing on issues such as:

—How TAFs impact aviation forecast customers.
—The importance of effective communication between the forecaster and customers
—The need for collaboration and coordination with other offices issuing aviation forecasts, and
—How to create TAFs that maximize the usefulness of NWS forecasts to the customer

DLAC 2 Course Objectives:
1 - Describe how TAFs impact customers
2 - Write clear and concise TAFs that customers understand
3 - Produce relevant and timely TAFs by being aware of customer needs and expected weather
4 - Express TAF logic and uncertainty via aviation forecast discussions
5 - Collaborate with others to produce the most consistent TAFs possible
6 - Routinely produce the best TAFs by using aviation "best practices"

Unit 1: Basic Terminal Forecast Strategies.

Unit 2: Writing TAFs for Convective Weather.

Unit 3: Writing TAFs for Winds and Low-Level Wind Shear.

Section III

Mesoscale Meteorology Primer -- Click here for website and courses

The Mesoscale Meteorology Primer is a Web-based training program designed to improve forecasting of mesoscale weather phenomena. Modules in the Primer were produced in cooperation with the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command and the Air Force Weather Agency. The goal of the Mesoscale Meteorology Primer is to: (1) Foster a conceptual understanding of mesoscale weather phenomena, and (2) Improve forecasting by illustrating the benefits and drawbacks of the new generation of numerical weather prediction models and remote sensing assets. In order to get credit for each training topic, the student must log into Meted.ucar.edu. Once each category is successfully passed, you will get credit for the course on the website and will be able to print a certificate. http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/
	Mesoscale Phenomena
	Coastally Trapped Wind Reversal http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/ctwr/index.htm Cold Air Damming http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/cad/index.htm Dynamically Forced Fog http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/dynfog/index.htm Forecasting Radiation Fog http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/dynfog/index.htm Gap Winds http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/gapwinds/index.htm Landfall Fronts http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/lff/index.htm Low Level Coastal Jets http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/coastaljets/index.htm Mesoscaled Banded Precipitation http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/bandedprecip/index.htm Mountain Waves and Downslope Winds http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/mtnwave/index.htm - (North Wall Effect) - (orographic Clouds and precipitation) - (Severe Convection I: Isolated Storms) Severe Convection II: Mesoscale Convective systems http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/severe2/index.htm
	Foundation Topics
	Definition of the Mesoscale http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/mesodefn/index.htm How Mesoscale Models Work http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/models/index.htm - (Boundary Layer Processes) Skew-T mastery http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/skewt/index.htm Flow Interaction with topography http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/flowtopo/index.htm Principles of Convection I: Buoyancy and CAPE http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/cape/index.htm Principles of Convection II: Using Hodographs http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/hodograf/index.htm Principles of convection III: Shear and convective storms http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/shear/index.htm - (principles of convection IV: Initiation Processes) Thermally- Forced Circulation I: Sea Breezes http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/seabreez/index.htm Thermally- forced Circulation II: Mountain/valley Breezes http://www.meted.ucar.edu/mesoprim/seabreez/index.htm