Lesson 1
Chapters 1 & 2
Lesson 2
Chapter 3 & Instrument Supplement
Lesson 3
Weather Maps
Lesson 4
Chapter 4
Lesson 5
Chapter 5
Lesson 6
Chapter 6
Lesson 7
Chapter 7
Lesson 8
Chapter 8
Lesson 9
Chapter 9
Lesson 10
Chapter 10
Lesson 11
Wind Shear and Turbulence
Lesson 12
Icing
Lesson 13
Visibility
Lesson 14
Case Study/Self-Briefing
Lesson 15
Case Study/Self-Briefing
Lesson 16
Case Study/Self-Briefing

STATION MODEL

Station Model
  • TT - Temperature: In the United States surface temperature is expressed in units of degrees Fahrenheit. In most other countries of the world it is expressed in degrees Celsius.
  • TdTd Dew point temperature: Expressed in the same units as temperature.
  • N - Cloud cover: Total cloud amount represents the fraction of sky covered by cloud.
  • VV - Visibility: Howfar we can see, expressed in units of miles.
  • dd - Wind direction: The line drawn represents the direction from which the wind is blowing.
  • ff - Wind speed: The barbs on the lines representing wind direction give us information on the wind speed. Wind speed is measured in knots (1 knot =1.15 miles per hour). One long barb equals 10 knots, a short barb 5 knots and a triangle represents a wind speed of 50 knots.
  • ww - present weather conditions: Symbols are used to convey information on the type of weather that was observed when the observations were made. Your book  lists some of these symbols. A more extensive list does exist.
  • PPP - Surface Pressure adjusted to sea level. The units are coded in mb.  The leading 9 or 10 are dropped as is the decimal.  So 234 represents a pressure of 1023.4 mb while 834 represents a pressure of 983.4 mb.
  • pp - Change in surface pressure over the last three hours. The change in pressure is represented by a value and a line that tells us how the pressure was changing.
In the following station plot the temperature is 76F, the dew point 55F, the wind direction is northeast at about 20 knots.  The pressure is 1013.8 mb, and it has increased then decreased and is now lower by 0.3 mb than three hours ago.  The cloud cover is overcast and it is raining.
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This web based lab section is being developed with assistance from the College of Letters and Science and the Cooperative Institute of Meteorological Satellite Studies.   Material presented is Copyrighted (C) 2000 by Steve Ackerman .  Feel free to use this material for non-profit educational purposes!