1.  Weather Observations

Lectures:  Review of observational platforms used in synoptic and mesoscale analysis.

Labs:  Access, display, and interpretation of surface, upper air, and satellite observations

 

2.  Introduction to Weather Satellites and their Imagery

Lectures:  Hardware description.  Basic concepts.  Interpretation of visible, infrared, microwave, and moisture imagery.

Labs: Analysis of satellite imagery. 

 

3.  Introduction to Weather Radar and Its Interpretation

Lectures:  History of weather radar.  Modern radar technology.  Doppler and dual-polarization interpretation.

Labs:  Weather radar interpretation exercises.

 

4.   Basic Conceptional Understanding of Fronts and Cyclones

Lectures:  Norwegian Cyclone Model, including 3D evolution. Fronts and frontogenesis.  Upper-level frontal origins and evolution.  Jet streams.

Labs:  Upper air analyses. Frontal and surface analysis.   Cross-sectional analyses.

 

5.  Modern Ideas on Synoptic Structure and Evolution

Lectures:  Variations of synoptic evolution between land and water. Shapiro/Keyser model.  Three-dimensional airflow in cyclones.  Numerical simulations of cyclone/frontal evolution. Vorticity and potential vorticity viewpoints, potential vorticity and PV thinking.

Labs: Analysis of three-dimensional structures and trajectory analyses using model data.

 

6.   Introduction to Numerical Weather Prediction and Forecasting

Lectures:  Major steps in weather prediction.  Numerical weather prediction and models.  Forecast postprocessing.  AI weather prediction.  Accessing weather information.

Labs:  Comparisons of weather prediction model forecasts.  Forecast exercises. 

 

7.  The Synoptic Meteorology of Extreme Weather

 

Lectures:  Heatwaves and cold waves, atmospheric rivers and extreme precipitation, organized convection, air quality degradation.

 

8.  Tropical Meteorology 

Lectures: Basic characteristics and comparison to midlatitudes. Easterly waves and tropical storms. Streamline and isotach analyses

Labs: Satellite interpretation in the tropics.  Tropical analyses.