Weather Maps What are they used for? How do we make them? Bob Howell - Manager Greenwood Weather Services Centre Meteorological Service of Canada

The Job of the Meteorologist: To understand the atmospheric processes responsible for the weather, To communicate that understanding in a manner tailored to the needs of “the client”

Weather Maps: Help us organize and process information, Help us communicate the weather situation To accomplish both these requirements the weather map must therefore show not only the clouds, precipitation, temperatures etc, but also the structures associated with the processes that create them.

Weather Map Format: Pressure centres and patterns show air movements Fronts depict air mass boundaries and help show heating and cooling processes

To Create a Weather Map: We need Data! Conventional reports from surface stations

To Create a Weather Map: We need Data! Upper air reports from weather balloons

To Create a Weather Map: We need Data! Processed depictions of reported and forecast data

To Create a Weather Map: We need Data! Satellite Images

To Create a Weather Map: We need Data! Radar

To Create a Weather Map: We need Data! Data from other sensors

Data Flow l Data received via landline and Satellite feeds l Several Gigabytes flow per day: l Text l Charts / Maps l Radar l Satellite Images l Lightning Data l Binary data files Halifax Winnipeg Trenton Greenwood CMC Dorval 512K 256K 512K

Weather Maps - Creating a Surface Analysis

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Meteorologist Careers Graduation with Degree or Diploma in Meteorology (UBC, U of A, UQAM, Dalhousie) ~8 months Operational Training Hailfax, Montreal, Edmonton Internship training at a Weather Centre 2 months first level 18 months more to certification Relocation to another Centre

Meteorologist Careers Graduation with Degree or Diploma in Meteorology (UBC, U of A, UQAM, Dalhousie) ~8 months Operational Training Halifax, Montreal, Edmonton Internship training at a Weather Centre 2 months first level 18 months more to certification Relocation to another Centre

Approx 500 operational meteorologists working at centres in: Vancouver, Kelowna, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, Rimouski, Fredericton, Dartmouth, Gander, Comox, Trenton, Halifax, Greenwood

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