Refine students’ operational forecasting skills by synthesizing weather observations and numerical weather prediction output. Increase students’ awareness of local and regional weather patterns. Improve students’ understanding and appreciation of modern weather forecasting challenges. This course meets the following General Education Abilities, by accomplishing the specific learning objectives listed below: Communicate effectively through speech. This is met by oral presentations of weather forecast discussions. Computer Literacy is addressed through creation of computer- based weather forecast discussions and submission of computer- based weather forecasts. Critical Thinking is central to the learning objectives of this class, and is developed through discussion of the reasons for successful and unsuccessful weather forecasts.
Course outline is dependent on the relevant faculty and varies depending on credit hours. Topics may include: Short-term forecasting techniques Using upper-level observations to make surface forecasts Techniques of quantitative precipitation forecasting Forecasting for coastal locations Forecasting for mountainous locations Cold-weather forecasting Severe weather forecasting