SO441: Final case presentation

  1. Overview. In Synoptic Meteorology this semester, we have spent significant amounts of time learning about the theory of important mid-latitude weather processes. Of those theories, we focused the most on (1) mid-latitude cyclones and cyclogenesis and (2) quasi-geostrophic theory. In Lab activities, as well as in lecture, we have seen how these theories, which describe the development of surface lows and highs and the favored location for rising air motion, apply to real life situations.

We began the course by learning about some of the tools available to meteorologists (surface and upper-air charts, hand analysis, numerical weather prediction) that complement the existing theory and allow us to really understand a particular weather event. You have used many of those charts in your daily weather discussions, seen them many times in lecture, and analyzed them extensively in the Lab activities.

  1. Task: general guidelines. Your task is to select an interesting weather event, perhaps from your home town, and study it in detail using both the theory and the tools we’ve employed in SO441. After studying the weather event in detail, you should be able to describe its evolution from start to finish, and be able to answer both key questions about the event: “What?” and “Why?”.

The “what”: what happened during the weather event? How did surface and 850-mb temperatures change during the event? What did the 500-mb height and vorticity fields look like before, during, and after the event? What areas of heavy precipitation, strong wind, etc. existed, and how intense were they? Where were areas of strong warm-air advection and cold-air advection located, how did they change over time, and how did they impact the height field and vertical velocity field? What about areas of positive and negative vorticity advection: where were they located, and how did they (and the vertical gradient of vorticity advection) feed back to the rest of the system?

The “why”: why did the weather event occur? What theory (that we’ve learned in SO441) applied during the event? Why did the extratropical cyclone (or anti-cyclone) strengthen? Why did the frontal boundary move eastward and strengthen with time? Why was there heavy rainfall (or snowfall) observed?

  1. Task: specific guidelines. You will brief the class on the weather event of your choice. You should build your brief (PowerPoint) using images you create and annotate from the netCDF-format data available at the NOAA Reanalysis site, Be sure to choose appropriate color scales (that are readable) and retain color bars. Also be sure to clearly label each slide/figure with the analysis variable(s) and time (e.g., “500-mb heights at 12Z 19 November 2012”). User the annotating tools in PPT to call attention (using clearly labeled arrows, circles, etc.) to the salient features. Feel free to include photos/etc of the weather event, but if you did not take the pictures, be sure to give appropriate credit/citation. You may also include figures showing surface observations from the Plymouth State University archive. Your brief should tell a complete weather story from the perspective of a synoptic meteorologist. The large majority of your presentation should be graphics that you create (in MATLAB) and analyze (labels in PowerPoint) using the reanalysis site.

You will be assessed on your brief using the same rubric as the in-class weather discussions during the semester, recognizing that more scrutiny will be applied because you will have had more time to prepare. Outstanding presentations will show clear grasp of meteorological theory as it applies to the chosen weather event and employ crisp, clearly annotated/labeled slides. Each midshipman should present about ½ of the brief, for 10 minutes total. Presentations will be given the last week of the semester, and write-ups are due the day the presentation is given.

Following the course policy statement, this presentation will count for 7.5% of your final course grade.