Professional development programme
Summer/winter forecasting workshops
Who is it for?
These workshop courses are aimed at trained and experienced forecasters. The courses may also benefit those who study past events to determine ‘what happened’ for research purposes.
You must be familiar with satellite and radar interpretation and diagnostics for atmospheric development before attending this course.
What is the aim of the course?
The aim of the summer and winter forecasting workshops is to improve a student’s ability to add value to the numerical weather prediction product when dealing with mesoscale features in the summer or winter.
What will students learn?
The workshops build skills and knowledge that enable the student to:
- Demonstrate increased knowledge of the summer or winter mesoscale processes.
- Apply a range of conceptual models and mesoscale forecasting techniques to summer or winter weather situations.
- Make more effective use of NWP products in summer or winter.
On completion of the course, the student will be better able to make early identification of a weather situation that a numerical model has poorly forecast. This will allow a forecaster to react quickly and effectively to improve the services to customers.
Non-forecasters can use these skills in post-event analysis to improve their understanding of model weakness.
What does the course cover?
The summer forecasting course has the following components:
Review of PV, vorticity and water vapour imagery. Study of
severe convective storms, including hail, downdraughts
and flash flooding. The handling of convection by the Met
Office numerical short-period forecasting system. Sea breezes.
Heat lows. Convergence areas. Upper mesoscale features.
Weak frontal systems.
The winter forecasting course has the following components:
Review of PV, vorticity and water vapour imagery. Fronts.
Precipitation forecasting. The handling of precipitation
by the Met Office numerical short-period forecasting system.
Mountain effects on existing weather. Radiative effects
on temperature and fog. Stratocumulus. Road meteorology.
Both courses include practical workshops where participants work in groups to study summer, or winter, weather events. The theory used on the course is briefly reviewed at the start in a non-mathematical way. The course will involve a lot of discussion to ensure both understanding and a sharing of experience.
What is the course duration?
Both courses are three-day, residential.
If appropriate facilities are available, this course could also be adapted and provided, by Met Office College instructors, at your organisation.
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