This course will provide an overview of the physical processes that “make the weather” ranging from large-scale systems covering entire provinces, down to local regimes. This section of the course will describe many physical concepts, but don’t worry, we will relate them to things you already know about the atmosphere (but may not know that you know). We follow this with a look at some of the tools used to observe the weather – from local backyard weather stations all the way to satellites hovering 36,000 km above the earth. To predict the future, numerical models combine the observed conditions with physical equations. We will discuss how these models work and some of their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, we will look at how the meteorologist puts it all together to make a forecast.
Instructor: Ron Goodson
Ron Goodson worked for the Meteorological Service of Canada (part of Environment and Climate Change Canada) for 40 years as a development meteorologist creating and training on techniques and tools used by operational meteorologists. He specialized in satellite meteorology but with a host of other interests including numerical models applied to Arctic weather patterns and wind regimes.
