SO 441 - Synoptic Meteorology

The material for this course is an ongoing work in progress.  I welcome all comments and corrections pertaining to the content below.     Please email comments and corrections to:

Course syllabus

Course policy

Weather discussion grading rubric - Spring 2020

Guidelines - final case presentations


Important weather sites
  - http://weather.rap.ucar.edu/     Surface, upper-air, radar, model data
  - https://weather.cod.edu/satrad/     College of DuPage satellite (water vapor, visible)
  - http://www.spc.noaa.gov/     Storm Prediction Center
  - http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/     National Hurricane Center
  - http://www.meteor.iastate.edu/~ckarsten/bufkit/image_loader.phtml?site=kbwi     KBWI Meteogram IA State Univ
  - http://maps.weatherbell.com/ Weatherbell Maps
  - http://www.weather.gov/     NWS
  - http://www.ral.ucar.edu/hurricanes/realtime/current/     UCAR global TC prediction
  - TC Situational Awareness (O. Shieh)
  - https://www.med.navy.mil/sites/annapolis/Pages/HeatStress.aspx     Current heat flag at hospital point
  - http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/     TC satellite images
  - http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov     NOAA Ocean Prediction Oenter
  - http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/     NOAA Weather Prediction Center
  - http://weather.unisys.com    Unisys
  - http://rapidrefresh.noaa.gov/hrrr/     Short-range model prediction (HRRR)
  - http://mag.ncep.noaa.gov/model-guidance-model-area.php     Weather prediction models
  - http://vortex.plymouth.edu/    Plymouth State weather site
  - Tropical Cyclone Automated Tracking - Canadian Meteorological Service
  - SPC Forecast Tools (Upper-air charts, etc)
  - RAMSDIS satellite (water vapor, etc.): North & South America
  - US Geographical Boundaries (from WPC)
  - US Geographical Features (from WPC)
  - NOAA Tide Station Annapolis
  - NWS Model Output Statistics
  - Iowa State University MOS Interface
  - CoCoRaHS maps -- good for snow totals
  - SPC Plumes -- short-range ensemble predictions
  - MeteoChile Chilean meteorological service
  - Servicio Meteorológico de la Armada de Chile Meteorological Service of the Chilean Navy

Lecture Notes & Presentations

Weeks 1 and 2: Weather forecasting and Manual analysis
    Lesson 1: Manual analysis
    Lesson 2: Weather forecasting

Weeks 3-4: Numerical weather prediction
    Lesson 3: Numerical weather prediction (NWP)

Week 5: Vorticity and vorticity advection
    Lesson 4: Vorticity
    - Derivation: sign of rel vort in troughs and ridges

Week 6: Extratropical cyclones
    Lesson 5: Extratropical cyclones

  -- Exam 1 --

Weeks 7-9: Potential vorticity
    Lesson 6: Potential vorticity
    - Derivation: conservation of potential vorticity

Weeks 10-13: Quasi-geostrophic theory
    Lesson 7: Quasi-geostrophic theory
      -   handout: Quasi-geostrophic derivation

  -- Exam 2 --

Week 14: Fronts
    Lesson 8: Fronts

Labs

Assignments