MSC/COMET Mountain Weather Course Home Page

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Introduction

Environment Canada and the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC), in conjunction with COMET, will hold the inaugural Mountain Weather Course in Boulder, 20-24 March 2006 at the COMET classroom in Boulder, CO, USA . The course is an important component of the MSC/COMET training partnership in its continuing efforts to build stronger links between science and forecast operations.

The goal for this course is to provide fundamental theoretical and practical material in mountain meteorology to meteorologists who forecast weather in complex terrain and for events like the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics where on-site forecasting will be done for venues in and around Whistler, BC. This course is also intended to augment the meteorological training of operational forecasters in complex terrain.

The main focus of the course will be on synoptic and mesoscale meteorological processes and their interaction with complex terrain. Some of the topics include:

• Microphysics of Orographic Clouds and Precipitation
• Thermally Driven Flows
• Dynamically Driven Flows
• NWP & Forecasting Orographic Precipitation
• Remote Sensing
• Snow Properties and Avalanches
• Overview of the Olympic Forecast Programs for the 2002 and 2010 Olympics

This pilot will form the basis for establishing an annual Mountain Weather Course. Between now and 2010, the course will deal with meteorological topics that will help forecasters meet the demanding requirements for the 2010 Winter Games (e.g., interpretation of remote sensing output, microclimates, mesoscale analysis in a complex alpine environment, etc). However, in this first course we have designed a curriculum that will appeal to mountain weather forecasters in general as well.

Representatives have been invited from all five MSC Regions as well as the Aviation and Defense Services. The US National Weather Service (NWS) has also been asked to send participants from the Alaska Region and the northwestern U.S. Course instructors include professors from leading U.S. and Canadian universities as well as various experts from the MSC and NWS.

As with other classroom courses at COMET, case studies will provide students with the opportunity for some hands-on experience of the lecture material. This 5-day course will give students a well-rounded understanding of forecasting in mountainous terrain and help them understand the complex meteorological processes associated with this type of terrain.

Environment Canada/MSC/COMET Mountain Weather Course 06-1
20-24 March 2006

• For MSC participants, financial coding for travel is 9400 1780 98053 170 0731. Desiree Dallas (phone: 604-664-9060) will provide participants with TANs. Make your travel arrangements in TES and use the financial coding supplied.
• For NWS students: travel authorization code will be available soon.
• Student Registration
• Pre-Course Reading
• Logistical Information -- IMPORTANT Information
• Students
• Course Leads and Instructors
• Directions to COMET
• Class Photo

For information on the Environment Canada/MSC/COMET Mountain Weather Course, please contact Doug Wesley, James Cummine, or Brad Snyder. . For help in other areas:

• Administrative support: class_admin@comet.ucar.edu
• Computer support: csdg@comet.ucar.edu
• Other classroom information: cbet@comet.ucar.edu

COMET Classroom Education and Teletraining Home Page