Weather 101 Workshop

2015-04-30 15:33:57.000 – Mike Carmon, Co-Director of Summit Operations

How does weather impact wildlife in the White Mountains?
What cloud type is that?
How do meteorologists forecast the weather?
What forces influence the behavior of the wind?
What factors influence global climate?
What is the Polar Vortex?
What sort of career paths exist in the field of meteorology?
What do ridges and troughs on a weather map indicate?

If you’ve found yourself pondering any of these questions, or anything related, we have the answers for you! This Saturday, at the Weather Discovery Center in North Conway, we’ll be holding our Weather 101 Workshop from 10AM – 4PM!

The workshop will kick-off as meteorologist Kaitlyn O’Brien explains the different forces that drive weather patterns around the globe. She’ll examine the differences between climate and weather, and take an in-depth look at the larger-scale weather phenomena that affect our day-to-day conditions.

I will take over for the second part of the workshop from the summit, and we’ll take a detailed look at the basic features that meteorologists examine on a weather map, and what all of those features mean for your daily weather forecast. We’ll not only look at surface weather maps, but head into the atmosphere to analyze the upper-level features that govern low-level systems.

Our Outreach Coordinator Will Broussard will lead the third part of the workshop, which will delve into weather and the environment. Weather plays an important role in the daily lives of all species of wildlife, not just humans, and we’ll see just how significant of a factor weather can be for the migratory patterns of birds.

After some time in the outdoors to stretch legs and check out cloud types in the skies overhead, we’ll connect live back to the summit to chat briefly about the Mount Washington Observatory, our weather, and how it’s monitored in this unique alpine environment.

To wrap up the day, Kaitlyn and I will discuss some of the weather topics in the news recently. Buzz words like “bombogenesis” and “polar vortex” are all around, and we’ll examine what they really mean. We’ll conclude with a brief talk on careers in meteorology!

All are welcome, and there’s still time to register, so please visit our website here to register today!

Mike Carmon, Co-Director of Summit Operations