Dann Cianca
For those of you who have participated in the WxChallenge forecasting tournament, you might be happy to know that this year they will be accepting alumni. Normally, the contest was for students, professors, and staff. Since I graduated this year, I was already a little sad I wouldn't get to participate this year.
(For those of you who don't know, the WxChallenge is a forecasting competition that allows forecasters to create a forecast for a particular city based on min/max temps, max 2min average wind, and precipitation. It's not exact science, but it's a fun way to hone your forecasting skills and in my opinion is sort of the "fantasy football" of meteorology).
... this message was forwarded to me by one of my professors:
Greetings,
In the WxChallenge's continuing efforts to provide a educational and
fun forecasting environment, degree-granted almuni are now allowed to
participate in the contest. This was a feature that has been on our
drawing board for a while and has been requested by many other
participants in the contest. The participants are a special case and
thus have special stipulations to their participation. Here is the
official rules on the alumni category (Cat 0):
"For the 2008-09 season, degree-granted alumni may participate as part
of a beta evaluation for potential future inclusion in the
WxChallenge. University alumni who are eligible to participate as
Category 1-4 forecasters must register within those categories at
their current academic institution regardless of alumni status for any
university. For example, an alumnus from university X who is now a
professor at university Y must register as Category 1 for university
Y. Similarly, an alumnus with a bachelor's degree from university A
that is a graduate student at university B must register as
Category 2
for university B. The alumni category is reserved for forecasters who
have attained a higher education degree, but are currently not
students or employees of a university. If a forecaster is an alumnus
of more than one university and is not eligible to participate as
Category 1-4, then the forecaster may select which of their previous
universities to be affiliated with. Alumni entry fees will remain the
same as all forecasters, but participation is limited. As such, alumni
forecasts will not count toward the overall consensus scores and their
scores will not be counted toward any team scores. Additionally,
alumni forecasters will not be eligible for the end of year
tournament. Because the alumni category is participating in a beta
evaluation for 2008-09, alumni forecasters will not be eligible to
receive trophies. "
I encourage all of you to read over the Eligible Participants section
of the rules
(http://wxchallenge.com/info/rules.php#eligible_participants)for
all details regarding not only the addition of the alumni, but
some other clarifications on forecaster category statuses. If you have
any further questions about the addition of alumni to the WxChallenge,
please let me know and I would be happy to answer any questions.
Brad Illston
WxChallenge Manager
(For those of you who don't know, the WxChallenge is a forecasting competition that allows forecasters to create a forecast for a particular city based on min/max temps, max 2min average wind, and precipitation. It's not exact science, but it's a fun way to hone your forecasting skills and in my opinion is sort of the "fantasy football" of meteorology).
... this message was forwarded to me by one of my professors:
Greetings,
In the WxChallenge's continuing efforts to provide a educational and
fun forecasting environment, degree-granted almuni are now allowed to
participate in the contest. This was a feature that has been on our
drawing board for a while and has been requested by many other
participants in the contest. The participants are a special case and
thus have special stipulations to their participation. Here is the
official rules on the alumni category (Cat 0):
"For the 2008-09 season, degree-granted alumni may participate as part
of a beta evaluation for potential future inclusion in the
WxChallenge. University alumni who are eligible to participate as
Category 1-4 forecasters must register within those categories at
their current academic institution regardless of alumni status for any
university. For example, an alumnus from university X who is now a
professor at university Y must register as Category 1 for university
Y. Similarly, an alumnus with a bachelor's degree from university A
that is a graduate student at university B must register as
Category 2
for university B. The alumni category is reserved for forecasters who
have attained a higher education degree, but are currently not
students or employees of a university. If a forecaster is an alumnus
of more than one university and is not eligible to participate as
Category 1-4, then the forecaster may select which of their previous
universities to be affiliated with. Alumni entry fees will remain the
same as all forecasters, but participation is limited. As such, alumni
forecasts will not count toward the overall consensus scores and their
scores will not be counted toward any team scores. Additionally,
alumni forecasters will not be eligible for the end of year
tournament. Because the alumni category is participating in a beta
evaluation for 2008-09, alumni forecasters will not be eligible to
receive trophies. "
I encourage all of you to read over the Eligible Participants section
of the rules
(http://wxchallenge.com/info/rules.php#eligible_participants)for
all details regarding not only the addition of the alumni, but
some other clarifications on forecaster category statuses. If you have
any further questions about the addition of alumni to the WxChallenge,
please let me know and I would be happy to answer any questions.
Brad Illston
WxChallenge Manager
