The meteorology of tornado forecasting

[Skip Talbot]

Yowzers, that was like getting hit by a meteorology freight train. I took Intro to Severe Weather in college so I felt equipped for most of the concepts, but I definitely had to stop the live playback and go back a few times. I definitely learned a ton though. I remember being taught in class about sinking air in the right exit region and how this should negatively impact severe weather, and then being confused when it really didn't seem to matter on chase setups or when severe weather actually seemed to prefer this region due to other compensating factors. I loved Rich's explanation that curvature in the flow compresses the jet streak down to two regions. Some of the nuances on the Skew-T like how the contact layer works were also great to see as I've either missed these details or never learned them.

 

[Jason_Dasho]

Great first class. At times I was still trying to process information in my own words when the topic was already on the next issue. I'm glad the class was recorded so I can rewatch some of the topics and research them through other sources so I have better handle on things before making the trip back up to Norman next Tuesday.
One thing I would change is have the ability to print the slides prior to class. I had a hard time seeing some details of the soundings in the classroom.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bob Hartig]

The stuff that grabbed you, Skip, is also what I found pretty chewy. And it's not like I haven't heard of it or tried to grasp it, but the theory behind it still eludes me. I've understood the quadrants concept from a forecasting perspective, linked with PVA/NVA--the applicational side, no sweat--but I haven't understood the cause, the physics, the why and wherefore of rising and sinking air in the quadrants. I think I'm a little closer now. Rich's clarification of severe Wx associated with the right front exit region of a curved jet streak gave me some peace, as I've noticed that point fairly often and wondered why it didn't square with the subsidence that's "supposed" to occur in the right front exit region. Curvature makes all the difference, apparently, and it seems that in practice, the exit region overall is prone to positive vorticity advection. That's the area I tend to watch, much more than the right entrance region. But the Parkersburg tornado was a product of the latter, so I guess I've got to get past that prejudice.

I'd like to find out more about how to determine flawed data so I can make more accurate assessments using the sounding diagram. My awareness has been raised, but I need to get info that'll stick re surface conditions, mid-level temps, and whatever else might apply.

 

[Mark Jordan]

Ah, what a great class! Thanks a lot for streaming this. Some of these advanced (to me) concepts are hard to glean out of books; it's great to have a human explanation of a lot of these concepts. I will definitely be reviewing the recording. Wish I could justify the drive from and back to DFW on a Tuesday night, I'd love to join in person.

As mentioned above me, are the slides available for download? Some of the charts came through a little fuzzy/muted on the stream.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I was thinking the same thing when I was sitting there skip - Right entrance region seems to be great for tornado production! Makes sense once he explained it. This was definitely a class geared towards those without formal meteorology training (or even those with meteorology classroom experience) but had some experience chasing and wanted to learn about the atmosphere in non mathematical terms. I feel like I was in the prime demographics as most intro to forecasting classes where you learn about troughs, low pressures, etc are kind of boring and the advanced lectures which include a ton of math and terms I don't understand are above me.

Jason - My apologies for the projectors in the classroom. We do have plans to replace them this summer, and I know they aren't the easiest to see. I promise you, things showed up better on the stream, so a review through the stream may help. Sitting way in the back, I found myself looking at the slides on my computer screen and not the projector. I just simply couldn't see most of them up on the wall.

Mark - We don't have them available for download, but I can ask Rich if he'd like to make them available. You may also want to make sure you're viewing at 720p on Youtube and not at a lower bitrate. They came through pretty darn clear at 720p.

Thanks everyone for their feedback. Next week I'll be landing at the airport 90 minutes before class time, so hopefully things go without a glitch (or a plane delay). I have a backup plan in place, and have someone else that can run the stream if need be, but I'm a control freak and won't rest easy unless I'm behind the laptop.

 

[Caleb Grunzke]

Absolutely loved this class and am looking forward to the rest! The slides/stream were very well put together and the content was great review for a met grad student. Rich also did a fantastic job simplifying things down while still including complex processes and equations.

 

[Jason_Dasho]

Thanks for the reply Ben . I'm glad I was not the only one that struggled to see it. I was only one row down from you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sean Ramsey]

I had a hard time seeing it from the back row of the lower level so you guys weren't alone, but I figured I would be going back through the presentation again and it would probably be more visible. It was a great class though and it was nice to have some real world perspective to help put things together that don't quite click when just reading about it. Looking forward to the next class!

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Yeah, our projector just isn't that bright and doesn't have a lot of contrast, so it's pretty hard to see, especially at a distance.

 

[Scott Taylor]

Just watched the archived show since I was out of pocket last night... thanks for stream/video! Mic/audio had a lot of drops but overall found this quite valuable.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Where did you notice drops in the audio?

 

[Dave C]

Just wanted to convey my thanks for live streaming this course. Great presentation so far, looking forward to next Tuesday.

 

[Scott Taylor]

Where did you notice drops in the audio?

Hi Ben... actually it was frequently 'popping' throughout playback and sometimes would drop completely. If no one else noticed it then perhaps the problem is on this end. (wouldn't be surprised as I watch it over my work PC!)

Thanks again for your efforts to make it available.
Scott

 

[Travis Davis]

I noticed the same thing too Scott.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Marcus Diaz]

I agree the audio would get raspy at times but the audio never dropped on my end.