Alaska Winter Weather Forecasting (Basic)
Description (Basic): This 2-Day course is similar to the WWF course described HERE, it also covers basic meteorology and how the atmosphere works, but is tailored to concentrate primarily on Alaska’s weather. Students will learn how to read and interpret the weather maps, resources and computer models available for the Alaska region, with hands-on forecasting exercises each day.
This course is especially useful for personnel involved in making short-term mission-critical weather forecasts for mountainous terrains, such as mountain guides, ski guides, avalanche forecasters and pilots.
Presentations in the classroom will be supplemented by “live” looks at weather maps via the Internet. A mountain weather forecasting workbook and other supplemental materials are included for each student in this course.
Instructor Jim Woodmencey is the owner of www.mountainweather.com and a renowned meteorologist. He has a BS Meteorology from Montana State University and has been forecasting the weather in Jackson Hole & the Teton Mountains since 1991. He also forecasts for climbing expeditions worldwide. He travels the world for Mountain Weather Forecasting Courses & is a Certified Avalanche Instructor.
Students should have a basic understanding of the weather and weather terminology and have some experience navigating the Internet to view various weather maps and products. A technical science background is not required; however, some pre-course preparation will be helpful.
Most of the maps and charts we will utilize in this course can be found on the website www.mountainweather.com. It is recommended that you practice navigating through all of the Alaska pages to be able to quickly locate such things as: Satellite & Radar images, current Surface Maps & Upper Air Maps, Weather Observations for stations nearest to you, and also the Computer Models page, prior to this course.
Each student must have a laptop computer with wireless Internet capability. Using a large tablet is OK, if that is what you are most comfortable using.