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
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)
RAP Real-Time Weather Data (from NCAR)
NEXRAD Radar (from NOAA)
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/