Weather 101/102
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
Topics
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News
Wx08 is now the current edition of the USPS Weather Course. Wx101/102 exams will continue to be accepted and graded until 31 December 2009. The items on this page are provided as a service for those squadrons that may be using Wx101/102 materials until the end of 2009. (07 Jan 09)
Weather 2004 Update Sheet
A column for Barometer Tendency is incorrectly completed and a clarification has been added to the Wind and Pressure section in the Weather 2004 Supplement Manual. See the Downloadable Material section for these corrections. (10 May 07)
Weather 2002 CD Slides Update
Six slides have been corrected in accordance with suggestions made by Bill Woodward, SEO of Beaufort Sail and Power Squadron. See the Downloadable Material section for these corrections. (17 Mar 06)
Weather 101/102 Course Description
The Weather 101/102 course will furnish basic weather knowledge for safer and more enjoyable boating. The student will learn to make weather predictions based upon observations of the sky, upon barometer and wind information, as well as weather data provided by maps, satellite images, and radio and TV broadcasts. Wx 101 and Wx 102 use a USPS supplement manual together with The Weather Book from USA Today (second edition, 1997) as the textbook.
Wx 101 - Basic Weather - topics include:
- Effects of Heat and Cold
- Wind and Pressure
- Storms and Fronts
- Rain, Humidity and Fog
- Floods, Droughts, and Winter Precipitation
Wx 102 - Advanced Weather - topics include:
- Thunderstorms and Tornados
- Tropical Weather
- Atmosphere and Clouds
- Forecasting
- Climate
Downloadable Material
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.
Weather 2004 Supplemental Manual Update
An update sheet for the Weather 2004 Supplemental Manual is available in PDF format (49KB). A clarification has been added to Wx 101, Section 2: Wind and Pressure, page 10, Paragraph 16. Wx 102, Section 4: Forecasting, page 37, Figure 7 (Weather Log) shows a column for Barometer Tendency that is incorrectly completed. Use the Update Sheet to correct the information. (10 May 07)
Weather 2002 CD Slides Update
Six slides have been corrected in accordance with suggestions made by Bill Woodward, SEO of Beaufort Sail and Power Squadron. CD Update 1 is available as a PDF file (638KB). Individual PPT slides are available below: (17 Mar 06)
- wx_101-3_slide29.ppt (2964KB)
- wx_101-4_slide16.ppt (618KB)
- wx_101-4_slide32.ppt (213KB)
- wx_101-4_slide34.ppt (1890KB)
- wx_101-5_slide08.ppt (535KB)
- wx_102-2_slide13.ppt (297KB)
Weather 2002 Update Sheet 1
Weather 2002 Update Sheet 1 may be downloaded and used with any 2002 material already in squadron inventory. Download Wx 2002 Update 1 in PDF (13KB) format.
Clouds As PowerPoint Slides
These slides were created with PowerPoint 97. You will need Microsoft PowerPoint or its free viewer to view or print these slides. You will also need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view/print the accompanying notes. A compressed file containing all the slide images in JPEG format for faster downloads is also listed. Depending on your computer software, download the appropriate file to a folder on your hard drive and follow the instructions from the download site. Use your browser's "Save as" or "Save Target as" function (usually the right mouse button) to download the files to a directory/folder on your computer.
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Clouds PowerPoint Slides - This is a large (3.8Mb) file in PowerPoint (PPT) format which will take a long time to download unless you have high speed Internet access.
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Clouds Slides in zipped JPEG format - All slides, compressed into a 1.2Mb zip file and providing a shorter download time, may be viewed/printed by any graphics program capable of reading JPEG format.
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Clouds Notes - A PDF (27KB) document containing notes to accompany the slides.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are no Frequently Asked Questions for Wx 101/102 at this time.
Weather Course Reference Material
Material of use to Weather course students is listed here.
- Weather symbols used on weather maps
- Suggested reference book list, May 2000 (PDF) (128KB)
- More suggested books, September 2000 (PDF) (137KB)
Questions or Comments?
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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