BC Weather Education Series:

Applied Mountain Meteorology for
BC Summer Outdoor Professionals and Enthusiasts
(Level I and Level II)


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Course Background: With the cooperations of Canadian Avalanche Association and Environment Canada we have developed a two level weather course that has been taught with huge success in BC and is to become prerequisites for the Avalanche Skills Training courses. We are currently modifying these courses to apply specifically to spring/summer outdoor enthusiasts/professionals living and working in BC. A third course is also being developed that will apply to sailing/marine professionals and enthusiasts. The first level (of all courses) will be taught over two days and is a 'soft-prerequisite' to the second level course that is taught over 3 days. The level 2 course builds on knowledge gained in the first course. The courses are heavily biased towards interpretation of internet weather information and will lead to students assessing weather scenarios before they go out in the field for hours or weeks. The courses will be limited to 11 students per teacher. To find out more about the teacher, please click here.

If you are interested in the courses (no commitment necessary, you will just be placed on a notification list), please e-mail me at

Level 1 course is aimed at people with some basic technical understanding of their environment but no meteorological knowledge. It is a hands on classroom based course that will use several case stuides to guide you to a sound understanding of basic meteorological principles and how to access and interpret weather information on the internet and in the real world. It ends in a 3 hour live exercise of real current weather analysis and interpretation. The exercise can later be repeated by students in real time through a publicly available internet guide. This way they can establish their own assessment of real weather at any time. Even though it is taught in a classroom it will contain tons of practical and 'in the field examples'. One of the strong features of the course is its flexibility to adjust to the knowledge and demands of its students. As such, each course will have the same structure and main contents but vary in detail according to student's feedback.

Level 2 course is aimed at people who have a basic understanding of meteorological principles. Students will be able to interpret a professionally created forecast for their own location and to some degree tailor the forecast for their own purposes. Through multiple live exercises students will gain an understanding of how a forecast is prepared and what caveats it has. Students will be able to take their forecast in the field and adjust it according to actual observations. The result will be an enhanced appreciation for the variability of weather and the inclusion of weather into one's decision making and trip planning. A huge array of internet weather links will provide the student with the tools to analyze weather and forecasts on a daily basis.

 

Contents and goals of the level 1 course:

  • Duration: 2 days
  • Prerequisites: None
  • Bring: Laptop (if you want) and enthusiasm
  • Helpful: To be technically minded and have an understanding for basic physical principles like: Wind blowing from high to low pressure and ability to read topographical maps etc.
  • Handouts:
    • Course slide notes
    • Terminology/Dictionary
    • Internet weather link collection
    • several information sheets to decode public weather information
    • Telephone numbers and radio frequencies for public weather information
  • Certificate: No tests, but a participation certificate will be handed out.
  • You will do/learn:
    • Basic Meteorological principles
    • A vast amount of meteorological terms.
    • Skills in outdoor weather observations.
    • Skills in weather map interpretation.
    • Skills in satellite interpretation.
    • Global circulations
    • Synoptic circulations
    • Basic weather analysis skills.
    • Local and mountain weather phenomena.
    • Using publicly available weather information (heavily biased towards the internet).
    • Hands on exercises and in the field observation interpretation
    • Live internet weather analysis.
    • Reading professionally prepared forecasts, and apply them to your personal goals.

 

Contents and goals of the level 2 course:

  • Duration: 3 days
  • Prerequisites: None, but level 1 course is strongly recommended (by myself AND students who took both courses).
  • Bring: Laptop (if you want) and enthusiasm
  • Helpful: To have firm grasp of basic meteorological principles like highs and lows and vertical temperature distribution (about half of the terms in the dictionary handout should be familiar to you).
  • Handouts:
    • Course slide notes
    • Terminology/Dictionary
    • Internet weather link collection
    • several information sheets to decode public weather information
    • Telephone numbers and radio frequencies for public weather information
  • Certificate: No tests, but a participation certificate will be handed out.
  • You will do/learn:
    • Conduct multiple live internet weather exercises.
    • Repeat of basic meteorological principles
    • More advanced meteorological principles
    • A vast amount of advanced meteorological terms.
    • Basic tephigram (Skew-T) and hodograph analysis.
    • Skills in outdoor weather observations.
    • Read weather information from any observation site in the world.
    • Basic skills in numerical weather prognosis and the associated weather map interpretation.
    • Skills in global/synoptic/local satellite interpretation.
    • Repeat of global circulations
    • Advanced Synoptic circulations
    • Mountain weather phenomena unique to BC.
    • Using publicly available weather information (heavily biased towards the internet).
    • Hands on exercises and in the field observation interpretation
    • Live internet weather analysis.
    • Analyzing any weather analysis and professionally prepared forecast.
    • Preparing a personally adjusted forecast for any summer outdoor venture.