Reflections on General Curriculum and Class Discussions |
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
I could read and understand the maps on the
Weather Blog this morning. And Don Harman noted that we will be in the
front right quadrant of the "upper level flow" which meant we'd have some
good lifting for storm formation - I knew what that meant, and could see it
on the map! Meteo 101 mission accomplished. |
Reflections The most important part of the course for me was learning about the Cyclone Model and how to identify fronts on a map with various data. Being able to put symbols on a map together with clouds on a satellite image has also been one of the most interesting things I've learned. These assignments gave us the experience of using what we'd just learned in a real-time environment, and showed us how to access the various weather data available on the web. These tools are invaluable in determining weather at any given place at any given time.
I knew there were a lot of
scientific principles involved in meteorology, but I didn't realize there
were so many minute variables. It's amazing how one map can show you
so many things, all to be considered for forecasting the simplest weather
movement. The answer to "Is it going to rain?" is complicated and
multi-faceted. The answer is never "Yes" or "No" by any means.
It's full of Ifs and Probabilities and Percentages. A better answer
for that question would be "It depends." Because it does! |