
This site is provided as a means of communications with the USPS National Marine Environment Committee (MEnvCom). We welcome your questions and comments on our courses, seminars and associated materials.
R/C
Ronald H. Kessel, SN
Stf/C Joan C. Croft, AP
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The Marine Environment Committee (MEnvCom) launched the new weather course with its completely rewritten manual at the beginning of 2009. During the first year over 1000 copies of the manual have been shipped. Wx2008 returns to a one-manual format, has four-color graphics, contains concise explanations of some of the more difficult topics in atmospheric dynamics, and includes Internet sources and content as an integral part of the curriculum. (12 Mar 10)
While there are no plans to revise the Student Manual, the Instructor Manual and PowerPoint Presentation were revised in March 2010. For a description of the improvements see Instructor Manual and PowerPoint Presentation below. The revised versions can be obtained by ordering a Weather Course Instructor Kit from the online catalog. (12 Mar 10)
Wx08 is now the current edition of the USPS Weather Course. Wx101/102 materials and exams are no longer available as of 31 December 2009. (22 Jan 10)
The safety and comfort of those who venture out-on-the water have always been weather dependent. In this course students will become keener observers of the weather, but weather observations only have meaning in the context of the basic principles of meteorology — the science of the atmosphere.
The course focuses on how weather systems form, behave, move, and interact with one another and reflects the availability of all sorts of weather reports and forecasts on the Internet. Wx2008 is a general weather course benefiting those sitting in their living rooms, as much as those standing behind the helm. Each student receives:
Wx2008 is designed to be conducted over ten classroom sessions, but each instructor will determine the pace of the course.
At the time of writing this appendix, the Wx2008 course had been taught for over a year so we now have the benefit of comments from instructors throughout the country. We leave typos and formatting corrections for the next printing. There are some substantive matters, however, that should be clarified, refined, or corrected. For the most part, they are fairly technical and tangential to the main principles that are the course's focus. Instructors should deal with them as they see fit.
An errata sheet has not been included with the student manuals. Instructors should check this Weather course web page for the latest information.
Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Page 57 Par 64: to take into account the possibility of supersaturation with the relative humidity being higher than 100%, in the 6th bullet delete the phrase “or is below”.
Chapter 5:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
All the predecessorWx2002 slides were included as part of the original Wx2008 PowerPoint presentation to give instructors maximum flexibility in customizing their classroom presentations. Some instructors, however, would have preferred a smaller number of slides that tracked the manual contents more closely.
To capture the best of both worlds each chapter in the revised PowerPoint presentation begins with a set of slides designated Wx08 that includes all the graphics in the course manual plus other supplemental ones. These Wx08 slides follow the manual’s order of topics fairly closely. The remaining Wx2002 slides from previous years have been designated Wx02 and follow the set of Wx08 slides. In this way instructors still have the option of easily integrating their favorite Wx02 slides into each chapter presentation as they see fit.
Instructors can rely entirely on the slides designated Wx08 knowing that they are adequately covering the course material. From a total of about 600 slides, roughly two-thirds have been designated Wx08 slides. Many of the slide notes for the Wx08 slides have been rewritten. Slide notes for the Wx02 slides, however, have not been revised. The revised Instructor Manual does not include the Wx02 slides.
The Instructor Manual includes two new sections: clarifications and corrections to the Student Manual; and advice about the final exam (what is included and excluded as well as some tips).
Examination Questions: The final examination will be a typical 100-question USPS multiple-choice, closed-book test. About 80% of the exam questions will be based on homework questions. Unlike some of the homework questions, there will be no test questions that have compound answers (e.g., “all of the above”, “none of the above”, “b and c”). The final examination will only include questions on the material in the first seven chapters. The material covered in Chapter 8 is reinforced through map drawing and analysis exercises.
Tips for the Examination: While the test will only cover the material in the first seven chapters, there is obviously some overlap in the topics dealt with in these chapters and Chapter 8–Forecasting. If a topic is covered in one of the first seven chapters it may be on the exam even though it is also dealt with in Chapter 8. What follows are some points of clarification and some guidance for instructors and students.
See the Educational Department Help page to obtain any needed free viewers or shareware zip programs for these files. See the PowerPoint Help page for information on how to replace slides.
The following Weather Logs are for use in both the Cruise Planning and Weather courses.
Slide shows of various weather phenomena for use by Weather course instructors and students. You will need Microsoft PowerPoint or its free viewer to view or print these slides. To download into a directory on your hard drive, right click on the file link and be sure to change the file name to something meaningful for you.
There are no Frequently Asked Questions for Wx 08 at this time.
The MEnvCom is looking for your help with the Regional Weather Learning Guides Project. We are soliciting contributions from all Members, Squadrons and Districts to complete this ambitious and worthwhile project. Districts and individual Squadrons are encouraged to “adopt” one of the guides and contribute your local expertise to the rest of USPS. We will also, of course, accept information from any individual contributors!
Introduction to Weather for Boaters, with examples from the Upper Mississippi River Basin (1936KB, PDF)—authored by Don Hansen, St Paul Squadron, D/10
Listed below are the 15 Regional Guides we would like to complete. Following the list is a suggested outline for the guides we would like everyone to use for consistency.
1. Northeast Atlantic Coast - (New England – Long Island Sound)
2. Northeast Interior (22KB, PDF) - (Lake Ontario, St. Lawrence River, Finger Lakes & Erie Canal)
Adopted by D/6--contact Harry Winberg, Utica Squadron, with comments and updates.
3. Middle Atlantic Coast (11KB, PDF) - (Long Island South Shore, New York Harbor and Approaches, New Jersey and Delaware coasts and Bays)
Barnegat Bay from Barnegat Twp to the Metedeconk River, including Barnegat Inlet, adopted by D/4--contact Warren Timm, Barnegat Bay Squadron, with comments and updates.
4. Chesapeake Bay
5. Southeast Atlantic Coast - (including North Florida)
6. South Florida and the Northern Bahamas - (east and west Florida coasts)
7. Eastern Caribbean
8. Gulf of Mexico
9. Southern California and Baja
10. Northwest Pacific Coast - (Northern California, Oregon/Washington and British Columbia)
Adopted by D/16—please contact Vern Redecker, Bellevue Squadron, with comments and updates.
11. Great Lakes (9KB, PDF) - (lakes may be grouped or done individually as appropriate – note overlap with Northeast Interior)
Western Lake Erie adopted by D/7—please contact Doug Sewell, Berea Squadron, with comments and updates. Writeups are needed for Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior.
12. Mississippi River Basin Waterways (784KB, PDF)
Adopted by D/10--please contact Don Hansen, St Paul Squadron, with comments and updates.
13. Inland Western Lakes
14. Alaska
15. Hawaii – South Pacific
Please contact the MEnvCom
chair to get involved!
Regional Weather Learning Guide Suggested Outline
I. Overview of local weather.
A. What seasons provide the best and/or worst boating?
II. Where does the weather come from?
III. What systems bring good and bad weather?
IV. What conditions precede these systems?
V. These systems bring what:
A. Winds
B. Precipitation
C. Visibilities
D. Clouds
E. Seas
VI. Currents.
VII. Tides.
VIII. Where to seek shelter during a storm?
IX. Sources of weather information.
Material of use to Weather course students is listed here.
If you have any questions or comments about the Weather course, please contact the National Marine Environment Committee chairman by e-mail, phone or postal service mail. Please be sure to keep your SEO and/or DEO advised of any correspondence you may have with the National committee. Addresses for the National MEnvCom chairman are listed in The ENSIGN and on the Committee Chairpersons page.
We will try to answer your questions as soon as possible, but please allow 5 working days for an answer.
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