The aim of this page is to provide information and resources for the training course OP-WMO.  The course is suitable for those who have a genuine interest in ECMWF forecasting products and want to exploit fully the potential of these products in their daily duties, whether they are producing forecast bulletins or taking decisions that are affected by weather phenomena.

The courses are a mixture of standard classroom lectures and practical activities where real weather cases are analysed in details and attendees are expected to report on at the end of the training week. Networking among the attendees is encouraged by allocating time for the participants to present their work and share their previous experience with ECMWF products.

The courses are assessed by means of an online survey which allows the participants to include their feedback and suggestions for improvements. The learning outcomes are assessed separately using a self-evaluation method.

 

Pre-course programme

A list of pre-course activities is indicated below. Please note that these activities are integral part of the course and by completing them you will be able to get the most benefit out of the training week.

Introduce yourself to the other course participants and to the lecturers (click here to go to the forum)

Prepare a poster (click here for guidance, maximum size for poster: A0)

Go trough the Practical activity: Choose a verification technique and apply it to your selected case (click here for guidance and document uploading facility)

Browse through the list of suggested readings (see 'Suggested readings' in the list 'Resources' panel below)

Listen to the webcast (click here to start the MP4, if it does not start read instructions below in the 'Resources' panel)

timetable

here


Go to home page

Take the survey! click here

SLIDECASTs

if you cannot play it, please download the MP4 file (right click and choose 'Save link as' ) and play it locally with Windows media player, or quicktime or VLC (free software)

Suggested readings

A number of articles are available here on various aspects of NWP, ECMWF model changes, medium and extended range forecast.

 

Case studies (coming soon!)

Dealing with 'jumps' in the forecast (Instructor-led practical session)

 


Case 1

 

Case 2

 

Case 3


Case 3

Lectures (Coming soon!)

You can download lectures from here:

  • click on the title to get the mp4 (if you cannot play it, please download the MP4 file by right clicking and choosing 'Save link as' . Play it locally with Windows media player, or quicktime or VLC (free software))
  • click on 'pdf' to get the file in pdf 
Lecturer
Title
Lecturer
Title

A. Ghelli

Introducing ECMWF (pdf)

L. Isaksen

Data assimilation (pdf)

P. Bechtold

Model Physics (pdf)

F. Prates

 Forecasting tropical cyclones in the medium range (pdf)

J. Bidlot

Wave forecasting (pdf)

D. Richardson

  Ensemble forecasts: can they help making decisions? (pdf)

M. Dahoui

Use of satellite observations (pdf)

C. SahinIntroduction to ecCharts (pdf)

L. Ferranti

  • Monthly Forecast (pdf)

  • Seasonal forecasts (pdf)

I. Tsonevsky

Forecasting extreme events (pdf)

R. ForbesClouds and precipitation (pdf)



 

EUMETCAL e-training module on verification:

The link below will take you to an e-training module on verification methods. There are four parts to it: Introduction, Verification of continuous variables, Verification of categorical forecasts and Verification of probability and ensemble forecasts. This module will help you to learn about verification techniques for deterministic and probability forecast. Try to complete all the parts and in case you run out of time look at the Introduction, Verification of categorical forecasts and Verification of probability and ensemble forecasts. There will be a verification session during the training week when verification techniques will be discussed starting from the exercises you have done in the module and your practical verification activity:

VERIFICATION METHODS

The posters presented by the students are here!