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Last Updated by:
Scott Bachmeier
14.December.2001

(1) Introduction


This intermediate-level VISIT teletraining lesson will discuss the primary ingredients involved in winter season precipitation events (forcing, instability, moisture, precipitation efficency, temperature), and diagnostics which are useful in evaluating these ingredients. Ingredients Analysis Tool scripts are employed using GEMPAK and AWIPS, for a variety of CONUS winter precipitation events.

This training lesson will cover the following topics:



• a brief overview of traditional snowfall forecasting techniques
  
• forcing for ascent -- where, and how strong is the forcing?
  
• atmospheric instability (conditional and potential, upright and slantwise) -- how strong will the response be to a forcing?
  
• moisture -- where, and how much moisture is available?
  
• precipitation efficiency (cloud microphysics) -- how much of the precipitation potential will be realized?
  
• temperature -- what form will the precipitation take, and what snow-to-water ratio can be expected?
  
• differences between GEMPAK and AWIPS ingredient diagnostic capabilities
  


(2) Teletraining file installation instructions (Note: new file download instructions were released on Friday 14 December 2001)

(3) Training session options:


(A) Interactive VISITview teletraining session. (To be used with a VISIT instructor leading the session). Click here to signup for teletraining. The session will last about 90 minutes. This teletraining session uses the VISITview software, where a Windows PC (with 64 MB RAM or greater) with an Internet connection is needed.

(B) Web-based training lesson - a "stand-alone" version viewed via a Web browser ("Instructor Notes" will be included on each HTML page). This lesson version may be viewed at any time. These slides are ideal for printing from a Web browser.

(C) Web-browser VISITview lesson - another "stand-alone" version, which uses the VISITview software within a Web browser. This version retains all the functionality of VISITview which you see in a "live" teletraining session (drawing, text annotation, etc), and can be viewed at any time. The Instructor Notes are not included in this lesson version, but can be viewed in a separate Web browser (or printed out beforehand).

(D) Local VISITview lesson - This is the same version of the lesson used in a "live" VISITview teletraining session, but no connection is made to an external VISITview server. You download the lesson file and go through the lesson on your own in "local mode" using the visitlocal.bat file. Instructor Notes are not included in this lesson version, but can be viewed in a separate Web browser ( or printed out beforehand).



(4) References/Additional Links


• Wetzel Winter Weather Forecasting Page, Suzanne Wetzel Seemann, CIMSS, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  
• Wintertime Cloud Microphysics Review, Dan Baumgardt, National Weather Service, La Crosse, Wisconsin
  
• AWIPS 4.3.x Volume Browser Localization Page (NWS La Crosse, Wisconsin)
• FORECASTING SNOWFALL USING MIXING RATIOS ON AN ISENTROPIC SURFACE: AN UPDATE, Crispin Garcia, NWS Sullivan/Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Comparison of AWIPS and GEMPAK Ingredients diagnostis
• Forcing diagnostics comparison over the central US, using the Centre Meteo Montreal Interactive NWP Diagnostic Tool DIONYSOS
• "An Introduction to Winter Precipitation Type Nowcasting", National Weather Service Training Center CD-ROM (December 1997)
  
• Conditional Symmetric Instability Homepage, Dave Schultz, NOAA/NSSL.


(5) Train-the-Trainer^TM


Instructor Notes are been developed which list the salient points to discuss on each page of the VISITview lesson. Using these notes while running the lesson in visitlocal mode will allow students to view the material in a "standalone" mode, without the need for a VISIT instructor.


(6) Points of contact:


Lesson content questions - Scott Bachmeier - 608.263.3958

VISITview technical questions - Tom Whittaker - 608.262.2759