PLEASE NOTE: This course has been updated. The new course Effective Use of NWP in the Forecast Process can be accessed at http://meted.ucar.edu/dl_courses/nwp.

This legacy course will remain available to Universities and other organizations for the foreseeable future. Be aware that it will not be maintained.

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Forecasters can improve their forecasts by making more intelligent use of NWP model guidance. The COMET NWP Distance Learning Course is a self-paced, online course that provides forecasters a better understanding of numerical model fundamentals.

By taking this 16-20 hour course, you will learn:

• The components of an NWP system
• Why parameterization of many physical processes is necessary
• Operationally significant information about model type, horizontal resolution, vertical coordinate systems, vertical resolution, and domain and boundary conditions
• How NWP models handle precipitation and cloud processes through parameterizations and/or explicit methods
• How NWP models parameterize sub-surface, boundary-layer, and free atmospheric processes, such as surface snow processes, soil characteristics, vegetation, evapotranspiration, PBL processes and parameterizations, and trace gases, and their interaction with the radiative transfer process
• The impact of postprocessing and how to account for it in the forecast process
• The statistical methods used to enhance raw model output, including MOS guidance
• NWP verification methodologies and use of daily model diagnostics
• The process and ever-increasing importance of data assimilation
• How data influence the analysis, and the limitations of data assimilation systems
• The importance of initial conditions on the quality of NWP guidance, and the challenges of assessing the quality of NWP guidance based on the initial conditions
• The role of ensemble forecasts, and how ensemble prediction systems (EPSs) are created
• How ensemble forecast products differ from traditional NWP products
• How to interpret ensemble forecast products, including the advantages and limitations of each product