MET 4520L/5533L: Weather Discussion (Dr. Haiyan Jiang), Fall 2017

Course overview

This lab course is offered at the same term with MET 3502/MET5561—Synoptic Meteorology course with a focus on analysis and forecasting of middle-latitude and tropical weather systems, including tropical cyclones. It provides students with an introduction to the tools and techniques used for contemporary weather forecasting. Students will be required to give weather forecast discussions to develop an understanding of the weather forecasting process, and gain experience in communicating weather forecasts. It’s a vital practice for students in meteorological major.

Class web site: http://faculty.fiu.edu/~hajian/MET4520L_5533L/MET4520L_5533L.html

Schedule: Thursday 12:30-1:45PM

Location: AHC5 Rm357

TA: Heather Vasquez; Office: AHC5 358; email: hvazq002@fiu.edu

Instructor: Dr. Haiyan Jiang, Office: AHC5 Rm371. Phone: 305-348-2984. Email:haiyan.jiang@fiu.edu.

Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 12:30 PM-1:00 PM or by appointment

Prerequisite/Corequisite: MET 3502 Synoptic Meteorology or instructor’s permission.

Syllabus: Click here (pdf version)

Grading Method: Pass/Fail. A student will fail the course if he/she doesn’t give the required weather discussions or he/she missed more than 5 times of class meetings without a valid excuse.

Major topic: Each student will be required to give at least two 15 minute weather discussions during the semester. You can either team up with your classmate(s) who signed up for the same day, or you can do it on your own. The weather discussion leaders should examine recent, current, and future weather scenarios and forecast challenges. The purpose of the weather discussion in this course is to develop your ability to organize effective discussion, improve your communication skills, and apply the concepts learned in class to the real-time weather situation. As part of the weather discussion, the student discussion leaders must prepare: A 15 minute presentation relating the past, present, and future weather conditions in Miami and other weather of interest, and provide a quantified forecast of the following for Miami:

         Today’s Max Temperature (10-04 UTC)

            Tonight’s Min Temperature (22-16 UTC)

            Tomorrow’s Max Temperature (10-04 UTC)

Student Weather Discussion Schedule: Click here (PDF)

Labs:

Lab 1: Weather discussion and internet resources; More weather discussion links: PDF; WxChallenge information: PDF; WxChallenge sign-up form:PDF;

Lab 2: Weather discussion example; Cheng Tao's weather discussion example: PDF;

Useful Links for Weather Discussion:

Weather Prediction Education: http://www.theweatherprediction.com/

For Tropical Weather Discussion:

NHC Tropical Weather Discussion: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/MIATWDAT.shtml

Montgomery Research page: http://www.met.nps.edu/~mtmontgo/storms2010.html

SHIPS Hurricane Intensity Forecasts (go to the bottom file): ftp://ftp.tpc.ncep.noaa.gov/atcf/stext/

CIMSS PREDICT page: http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic2/predict/#

Operational Model Guidance Products for ATL Topical Cyclones: http://euler.atmos.colostate.edu/~vigh/guidance/

Global Lightning Data for Tropical Cyclones: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/cgi-bin/pacnet/images.pl

NRL Tropical Cyclone Site: http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

For Mid-latitude or General Weather Discussion:

Univ. Wisconsin-Madison model forecast maps (Click MM5): http://aos.wisc.edu/weather/wx_models/Models.htm

or try this if the above link doesn't work: http://sol.aos.wisc.edu

Utah Weather Center: http://weather.utah.edu/

Penn State E-Wall: http://www.meteo.psu.edu/~gadomski/ewall.html.

Unisys Weather: http://weather.unisys.com/index.html

Wyoming Soundings:http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html

UCAR Soundings:http://weather.rap.ucar.edu/upper/

Canadian Weather Office Analyses:http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/analysis/index_e.html

Elizabeth Tuttle's Weather Map Site: http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/weather/weather.htm

GOES Satellite Imagery at NASA/MSFC: http://weather.msfc.nasa.gov/GOES/

JETSTREAM (NWS Southern Region Online Weather School): http://www.srh.weather.gov/jetstream/synoptic/synoptic_intro.htm

HPC Surface Analysis: http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/sfc2.shtml

Miami Weather Forecast Office: http://www.srh.weather.gov/mfl/

Miami WSR-88D Radar Base Reflectivity:http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/radar.php?rid=amx&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=no

Miami WSR-88D Radar Loop http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/radar.php?rid=AMX&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=yes

National Radar Mosaic: http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Conus/

NCAR/RAP Upper-Air Site: http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/upper/

NCEP Analyses and Forecasts: http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis

NCEP Home: http://www.ncep.noaa.gov/

NCEP Models:http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/modelinfo/index.html

NRL Satellite Imagery Site: http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/sat_products.html

University of Washington radar & satellite images loops:

ONUS radar: last 12hrs at 30m intervals

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/wxloop.cgi?radar_us_full+/12h/30m

CONUS radar: last 2hrs

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/wxloop.cgi?radar_us_full+/2h/

GOES WEST + SFC Analysis: last 48hrs at 3hr intervals

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/wxloop.cgi?fronts_ir+/48h/

GOES EAST + SFC Analysis: last 48hrs at 3hr intervals

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/wxloop.cgi?fronts_ir_east+/48h/

GOES WEST Obs and Pressure Analysis: last 48hrs at 3hr intervals

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/wxloop.cgi?sat_sfc_full+/2d/

GOES EAST Obs and Pressure Analysis: last 48hrs at 3hr intervals

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/wxloop.cgi?sat_east_sfc_full+/2d/

subsitute "sfc" for "850", "500", or "300" for maps at those constant pressure levels

West Coast 1km VIS loop (very large files): latest 6hrs

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/wxloop.cgi?vis1km_west_full+/6h/

East Coast 1km VIS loop (very large files): latest 6hrs

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/wxloop.cgi?vis1km_east_full+/6h/

Some other useful websites:

Constant Pressure Maps (from the University of Wyoming)

http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/uamap.html

Atmospheric Soundings (from the University of Wyoming)

http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html

North American Surface Analyses (from NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center)

http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/sfc2.shtml

Unified Surface Analysis (from NOAA’s Ocean Prediction Center)

http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/index.php

Hourly Surface Data for the U.S. (from NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center)

http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/sfc/sfcobs/sfcobs.shtml

NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/

WXMAP (from the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center)

https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/wxmap_cgi/index.html

Global Satelite Imagery (from the U.S. Navy’s Naval Research Laboratory)

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/sat_products.html

GOES Geostationary Satellite Server (from NOAA)

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/

RAP Real-Time Weather Data (from NCAR)

http://weather.rap.ucar.edu/

NEXRAD Radar (from NOAA)

http://www.weather.gov/Radar

Decoded METAR Surface Observations (from the University of Washington)

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~stoves/td.cgi

Weather Graphics Loops (from the University of Washington)

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/loops/

Virtual Map Room (from the University of Washington)

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/data/vmaproom/