METR 360

METR 360 (Weather Analysis and Forecasting I)

Fall, 2018

Labs
	Lab workbook (pdf - requires Adobe Reader)
Radiosonde Launch instructions	Lake Effect, Lab 9	IDV Nor'easter lab
Radiosonde Sounding data (Plot these!)

First Assignment

Read and be ready to discuss the novella “"Profession" by Issac Asimov (web link to abelard.org) ”
How do the concepts in Asimov's story apply to our course?

Sample Exams (these are the exams given last year)

Fall 2018 exams

Exam 1
Exam 2
Final Exam

Lecture Topics

Norwegian Cyclone Model Review
Lecture PowerPoint	Schematic of a mature cyclone
	(following Bjerknes and Solberg)

Fronts
Lecture PowerPoint	Cold front: features and schematic cross section
	Warm front: features and schematic cross section
	Margules' formula for slopes of fronts
	Analyzing fronts

Stability
Lecture PowerPoint	Sample skew-T log-P diagrams:	Examples (from NCAR-RAP):
	Stable lapse rate	Albany (Abs. stable)
	Absolutely unstable lapse rate	Flagstaff (Abs. unstable)
	Conditionally unstable lapse rate	Miami (Conditionally unstable)

Upper Air

Lecture PowerPoint

Air Masses
Lake Effect PowerPoint	Lake Effect lab

Guidance
Lecture PowerPoint	Decoding NAM MOS (from NWS)
	Decoding GFS short range MOS (from NWS)
	Decoding GFS extended range MOS (from NWS)

Waves in the Westerlies (Rossby waves)
Lecture PowerPoint	Here are some places to view hemispheric upper air maps and see the waves:
	300 mb from Unisys
	University of Wyoming (with 5-year archive)
	Penn. State (N. Hemisphere 500 hPa and MSL)
	Ensemble hemispheric 500 mb forecast, next two weeks

Vertical Motion

Lecture PowerPoint

Potential Vorticity
Lecture Powerpoint
Summary of Potential Vorticity conservation (cyclogenesis)

For Lab 11: Unidata home page (Pull down menu for downloads to get the IDV. You must register but it's free and safe.)

Jet Streams

Lecture PowerPoint