For the serious weather geeks (like me!):

[Gman]

The NOAA National Weather Service in association with the COMET Program offers a large series of free distance learning products. Modules available for download (flash player usually required) include:

A Convective Storm Matrix: Buoyancy/Shear Dependencies, Basic Terminal Forecast Strategies, Fire Weather Forecasting: Clear Communications, and a whole bunch of others. I'm just selecting some at random here.

Yesterday I completed a module called "Polar Satellite Products for the Operational Forecaster: Microwave Analysis of Tropical Cyclones, and Remote Sensing of Ocean Wind Speed" and another module called "Direction: An Introduction to Scatterometry", both with a passing grade! I already have a better understanding of how tropical storm systems are analyzed and the stuff I read in discussions means more.

The modules show a level number which I can't find an explanation for except it appears that the higher the level, the greater the difficulty and probably the greater the need for some background prerequisite-type stuff.

Courses available are listed here: http://www.meted.ucar.edu/resource_downloads.php. (Registration is required to begin the courses).

Info about the COMET Program is here: http://www.comet.ucar.edu/aboutus.htm

[madokie]

1. Thanks, that'll be something I can look into the next night I can't sleep

As there always seems to be plenty of them these nights :-)

[bananas]

2. You should post this is the science forum. nt