The Ontario Weather Page - Forecasting the Weather

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Forecasting and Interpreting the Weather

This section will introduce you to the basic and advanced concepts surrounding meteorology. Many different sections are addressed here and should provide you with enough information to make you own forecast and understand the processes involved. General Modules, Radar Modules and Satellite Modules are all listed here. It is great to see schools and organizations posting these important learning tools.

General Modules

Topics	Description on Course

Atmospheric Pressure	Introduces pressure, surface pressure and how pressure varies with height, the importance of isobars, and high and low pressure centers.
Atmospheric Optics	Introduces the refraction, reflection, diffraction and scattering of light and the optical effects that result, from rainbows to sundogs, sunsets to haloes.
Cloud Catalog	Introduces high, middle and low clouds. clouds with vertical development, numerous other cloud types, plus the lifting mechanisms responsible for their development.
El Ni駉	El Ni駉 is a warm current that appears in the eastern tropical Pacific ocean, with significant impacts from local fishing industries to global weather patterns.
Forecasting the Weather	Introduces forecasting methods, interpreting surface features and forecasting temperature and precipitation values.
Forces and Winds	Introduces the pressure gradient and coriolis forces, and their roles in the generation of wind.
Guide to Fronts	Investigates warm fronts, cold fronts, plus stationary and occluded fronts.
Guide to Weather Maps and Images	Learn how to interpret surface, satellite and radar images, surface observation symbols, upper air symbols, surface and upper air contours and constant pressure surfaces.
Hurricane	Learn when and where hurricanes typically develop, how they develop, stages of development, their structure, satellite animations of Douglas and Edouard and the destruction caused by hurricanes.
Hydrology Cycle	Introduces the Earth's water budget and the processes of evaporation, condensation, transportation, transpiration, groundwater, runoff and precipitation
Land Breezes - Lake Effect Snow	Step by step explanation of land breezes, their role in the development of lake effect snow, plus a close-up look at a special lake effect snow event.
Midlatitude Cyclones	Introduces midlatitude cyclones, associated winds and air masses, satellite images and upper air features.
Severe Storm Spotters Guide	A large collection of slides ( courtesy of NOAA) and text investigating thunderstorms and thunderstorm phenomena like tornadoes, hail and damaging winds.
Units For Elementary School Kids	Small units designed for younger children that are easy to read and understand

Radar Modules

Topics	Description on Course

Radar Basics	Introduces the sending and retrieving of signals, detecting a target and different scanning modes.
Radar Imagery	Introduces the WSR-88D and MDR radar imagery.
Velocity Patterns	Introduces various wind patterns depicted through Doppler radar estimated winds.
Applications	Introduces applications in tornado and hurricane detection, short term forecasting and other areas.

Satellite Modules

Topics Description on Course

GOES Satellites
Introduces orbital coverage, architecture, equipment and the types of products they produce.

POES Satellites Introduces orbital coverage, architecture, equipment and the types of products they produce.

Interpreting Satellite Images Introduces visible, infrared, enhanced infrared and water vapor images, plus how to interpret them.