Can the Meterologists here recommend websites to learn the basics?

Question

I generally answer questions on the medicine forum but have had a long interest in meterology. I have greatly appreciated the knowledge imparted on this site by Tami and the other professionals on this forum (especially their ability to explain things in layman's terms -- and relating weather to baseball!). But are there any decent websites that you would recommend that offer tutorials on the basics of weather and meterology? I have tried to search this forum for this information but came up empty. Thanks for any assistance!

Answer 1

I'm not a meteorologist (yet), but I can help you out here. You can't learn everything on the internet, but you can learn quite a lot. Here is a list of websites that are sure to help you out:

http://www.weathergraphics.com/edu/

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides...

http://www.meted.ucar.edu/resource_metLi...

By the way, Tami is indeed great at sharing knowledge.

The best people I've seen in the past within the weather section are Freight_Train, Water, 1ofSelby's, and Mr. Weather. They were definitely the best, but they are no longer active on here. That suggests the best now are cyswxman, UAlog, WR, Michel Verheughe, pegminer, and of course Tami.

Anyways, I wish you luck in your meteorological studies. Also try and learn stuff from the National Weather Service and the American Meteorological Society.

- SV

Answer 2

In generally increasing order of difficulty, I'd recommend these three:

There is a nice NOAA site called Jetstream http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream//



There is an excellent site put together by Jeff Haby of Mississippi State

http://www.theweatherprediction.com/

Finally there is a site called COMET which is used as continuing education for weather professionals

http://www.comet.ucar.edu/

Answer 3

Hey, thanks for the kind words!

I was going to say http://www.theweatherprediction.com/ but pegminer already offered that one. I know that it starts off somewhat advanced already and you may need a more basic starting point, but you could definitely learn a thing or two from that site. When I'm finding my terminology is rusty on a certain weather topic, it's where I go for a brush up.

As far as current weather charts go, here is a great site:

http://www.weather.unisys.com/

It doesn't really teach weather, per say, but I still think it could be of value to you and anyone interested in weather. But I suppose it doesn't really teach you how to interpret the charts it contains, and that is where I am at a loss for where to guide you.

What I would suggest to you is this: search online for sites and search through some books that would teach you the following basics:

1. Cloud indentification and their associated weather

2. How to take and plot weather observations

3. How to analyze surface plots (to determine storm system locations, frontal boundaries, draw isobars)

4. Atmospheric physics

5. Synoptic scale systems, mesoscale, and microscale

6. General weather prognosis techniques

7. General satellite and radar interpretation

8. Upper air plot analysis (to determine jet stream location, troughs, and ridges)

9. Understanding of and interpretation of computer generated forecast models

Not necessarily in that exact order, but I did the best I could to really hit the basics, while my 9 month old competes for my attention. :-)

The first steps are numbers 1, 2 and 3. Everyone needs to start there.

Hope that helps. Gotta go get that baby of mine!