Synoptic Meteorology

Synoptic Meteorology -- (n.) - the presentation of the current weather elements of an extensive area at a particular time
(n.) - senior meteorology class at the University of South Alabama, taught by Dr. Blackwell

If you have kept up with my blog then you know that I am taking Synoptic 1 this semester and let go on the record saying that its the craziest class in the world!

The class is a six-hour credit class and it deserves that many credits. Here is a breakdown of the class...

The lecture for the class is Tuesdays & Thursdays from 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM and the lab is Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday 2:00 PM - 4:05 PM. Each week we get a city selected by Dr. Blackwell in which we forecast for. The city that Dr. Blackwell usually chooses has some type of weather event happening. We have forecasted all over the place including but not limited to: Portland, Maine; Washington DC; Topeka Kansas; & New Orleans, LA. During lab between 2:00 - 3:15 we do the foreasting for the city. We forecast for the 500 mb and 850 mb level and then various items at the surface (such as temp, surface pressure, wind direction & speed, etc.). We forecast 24 hours out from the day of the forecasting.

From 3:15 to 4:05 we listen to a weather briefing done by one classmate, one each lab. The briefing is between 11 to 14 minutes. It analyzes what is going on at the time of the briefing and twelve hours before, and then the forecast for the next 24 hours. After the briefing there is a question time in which other classmates can ask questions about the briefing. Participation is required and if a student doesn't ask a question then points are taken off of their final grade. Once the questions are done then Dr. Blackwell asks questions for about 20 minutes. After the briefing the briefer is debriefed and the grade is given. Each person in class does 3 briefings each semester.

So that is the lecture and lab procedures. Outside of lecture and labs we are given various assignments. We are given things called COMET Modules. These are web-based assignments about a certain topic in which we have to listen to a male/female talk about that topic and then take a quiz about that topic and send the results to Dr. Blackwell. We also get smaller assignments given out about the topics we cover in lecture.

The last assignment we do outside of class are case studies. These are very horrible and take a lot of time. They are huge weather maps (5 total) and each map we certain analyses that we have to do. We get two installments each semester and they are worth 20% of the final grade. The first installment has already be done and a blog post about those will be posted soon.

That is synoptic meteorology course for you. One very crazy course but I have made some pretty cool friends in the class...we have a blast!!

Ugh

So I know that i haven't posted a blog post in quite some time....my fault, well not really. It is school's fault. As most of my blog post have said this semester, I have been pretty busy. However things are slowly calming down and changes are about to take place from now through next semester. For example, as of right now I am going to be sleeping in on Saturday and I don't remember the last time that happened!!

Also for next semester I have learned that I need to drop a few things as I have WAY too much going on in my life. I am weighing everything and deciding on what needs to be drop. So yeah. There you go. For those who read my blog this is just something small that you can read and to wait for the next post.

Until next time....

Word of the Semester: BUSY

So this is probably the busiest semester I have had since I came down to South. Why is it so busy you ask? Well let me tell you...

First of all classes...I am taking the following classes this semester:
- Synoptic 1: 6 Credit Hours
- Computer Applications in Meteorology: 3-4 Credit Hours
- Physical Meteorology: 3 Credit hours
- Foundations in Math: 3 Credit Hours

Synoptic 1 alone equals a whole semester work for 3 classes. We have to do briefings, forecasts, case studies (which deserves a blog post all for itself), and COMET modules....oh COMET modules...not fun.

So on top of classes I have work, which when I started to work at the campus bookstore it seemed like a pretty easy job. That is of course when it is not football season. Football season + Bookstore = Stress & Headache. Don't get me wrong I enjoy my job but some days I just don't want to go into work. We work at every football game which is a 12-13 hour day and it is pretty much non-stop. Luckily there is only three more games left in the season...but they are supposed to be big games which means bigger crowds and more craziness.

Let's update...we have school and work. Now for my extracurricular activities which include two clubs: BCM & Meteorology Club. First up is BCM...I love the BCM and most everything associated with the BCM. I am on the Leadership Team in which we have 3 main groups that deal with certain events. My group deals with social events like "Halloween" Party, Homecoming, etc. Basically I am in charge of the "Halloween" party and Homecoming, which is cool but I might of took on too many tasks. After November 6th I'm pretty much done with planning BCM events for the rest of the semester. Now onto Meteorology Club...as with the case studies mentioned above, the MET club is a blog post in itself. Just to sum it up though, I am a co-coordinator for SeCAPS which is a conference we do each February. As February gets closer and closer, the busier us coordinators get, for planning that conference. We are actually ahead of schedule right now which is VERY good. However it is always at the back of my mind.

So thats all that is going on in my life at the moment. Once you break it down it is not that busy but there are moments when I just want to sit and do nothing and not think about anything. However, I must go to bed so I can wake up early tomorrow morning and register for classes...fun. Good night all.

Until next time....

Weekend Review

This past weekend I decided to stay in Mobile and not do the BCM trip to Dothan because I needed a break. It was a rough week with school, work, and personal things. Instead I stayed in Mobile and did whatever I wanted pretty much. Here is what I did...

Friday:

School and work...not too exciting. Went to CiCi's Pizza with Braden and it was SOO good!! I haven't had CiCi's in forever! I had some of their mac & cheese pizza, my favorite. Afterwards Braden came over to my room and we played some Super Mario Brothers, which any time Mario is involved it is a good time. He went to a softball game and did some cleaning and stuff and went to bed early.

Saturday:

I worked at 8 AM (yeah....not my best idea) to do inventory at the Bookstore's "downtown" storage which should be renamed to our football merchandise storage because that is all that is down there. Well if you have ever had the privilege to go down there (which I don't recommend), you would know that it is totally disorganized and a total mess!! We stayed there until 1:30 PM and did about half of the storage room. After that I went to Taco Bell to get some lunch and then the thunderstorms arrived which was a true blessing!! The wettest city in the US (Mobile) hasn't had much rain in a few weeks and we needed it. I watched the storms form on the drive to Taco Bell and then it poured once I got back to the room. I continued to watch the rain out the window and then on RADAR (which is one of the channels on the digital cable...totally excited about that!). I finished watching the "Avatar: the Last Airbender" series which is a pretty cool series! I enjoyed it very much and the ending was EPIC!!! After that I went to bed.

Sunday:

Woke up and went to church and then came back and ate at the lovely Market for lunch. Started on homework and did laundry at the same time....talented I know. Then went to visit Miranda at Cpt. D's and stayed there for about 3 hours talking to her and catching up on things. It was truly enjoyable. Came back and played some Super Smash Bros. and then went to bed.

Might not seem fun to some people but it is the perfect weekend I needed to survive the rest of the semester. Oh and FALL BREAK IS NEXT WEEKEND!!! Thank goodness!!!

Side Note: I'm thinking about redesigning my blog....what you think???

Until next time...

Few Minutes

It is Tuesday morning of the busiest week of my life! I got up at 8:15 AM and I'm a little ahead of schedule so I figured I would blog real quickly.

This semester is totally different than the ones before it. It seems that people have changed, the campus has changed, the BCM has changed etc. Change is hard to deal with especially with me. I like things to be structured and have everything laid out in front of me. I kind of expected of this semester to be different but not this different. It is like I ran into a brick wall face on and didn't see the wall coming. I have had a hard time in dealing with the change and every time I feel like I got the hang of something life throws a curl ball at me. I hope the curl balls stop soon...

Well I have to go to class now. Until next time...

Life as of Now

This week has just been one of those weeks. It feels like it should be Friday but it is only Wednesday!! School is getting more and more hectic. It seems that everyday I walk into all of my classes they are handing out a new assignment that is due the following week. Work is crazy right now because of football season and soon graduation stuff will be happening...no break for the weary.

On top of school and work there is stuff going that is making me lose focus and it would take three pages to explain everything. It is nothing bad, just that I'm wrapped up in the middle of it all. Here are a few thoughts though on what is going:

With any major decision it is wise to listen to the opinions of others on what is the right decision to make. However it is okay to take bits and pieces from each person's advice to come up with your own action plan and your own decision. Some people need to learn that not everybody is going to follow their advice and to back off. Don't give advice to someone and then the next day expect that person to do it because most likely they are not going to do it the next day. Especially me...I take my time in making decisions and in pretty much everything I do. I weigh all of the options and then make a decision and act on it.

That is all the venting I'm going to do right now. The other day BJ suggested I create a weather blog and I realized that I have never talked about the weather in this blog. Well that changes today!!

Right now we are in the middle of the hurricane season and the peak of the hurricane season. If you keep up with the tropics then you know that this season is no exception for this time being the peak of the season. In the past 20 days we have four major hurricanes....a major hurricane is category 3, 4, or 5. Currently there is Hurricane Igor (Category 4) and Hurricane Julia (Category 3), as well as Tropical Storm Karl [as seen below]. None of these storms are going to affect the US in a direct way which is very good. Dr. Blackwell (Tropics Specialist & Professor at South) says that he wouldn't be surprised to see a storm form in the Caribbean soon. We shall see what will happen during the rest of the 2010 Hurricane Season.

Until next time...

First Brief of the Year

I'm in synoptic meteorology 1 and it is the "senior" class of the meteorology program and it is where you put all of your knowledge from all of the other classes into one class and apply it to current weather. We have to do a briefing about 3 times this semester and it is a big deal! The briefing is where you get in front of the class and talk about the weather for 10-13 minutes.....for those who know me, know that this is a big deal for me since I don't like to talk in front of people.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I did my first briefing (a practice one that was not graded) and it was not that bad. It takes a lot of time to put it together though...I worked on it from about 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM with a 30 minute lunch break. A forecast for the next 24 hours must be done as well for a pre-selected city from the professor. My city (and the city for the whole week) was Portland, Maine. The city selection is based off of some weather event occurring or about to occur. A cold front was about to move over the city, therefore that city was selected. Last week we had Cherry Point, NC because of Hurricane Earl.

I felt really good about my briefing. I knew most of the stuff that Dr. Blackwell asked me or at least had some general knowledge about the topics. He said that certain charts that I did turned out to be really good and pretty accurate. So good job me on the first briefing...three more to go!