meteorology resources

[RadManCF]

Can anyone recommend a good introductory work on meteorology? Also, what are good sources of information on wind speeds and behavior at high altitudes? NOAA weather radio doesn't seem to have much to say on that subject.

 

[fyrwrxz]

Try mousing around with Meteorology 101- several sites offer basic education course-type info. As far as high altitude winds, are you referring to Jet Stream behaviour and influences or other factors as fronts and storm propagation? See if you can obtain the meteorology officer's number at a local airport for conditions aloft. Many times the pilot report for flight conditions for local FPO's can be informative for our hobby. These are most often pre-recorded and updated every hour or two depending on conditions. You can also access the GOES satellite system to look at various patterns to may affect your area. I would try the GOES east sat for your area first. There are other reporting stations and observations available, most often used by your (very) local TV station. Call and ask-most times they'll be glad to share.

 

[RadManCF]

Try mousing around with Meteorology 101- several sites offer basic education course-type info. As far as high altitude winds, are you referring to Jet Stream behaviour and influences or other factors as fronts and storm propagation? See if you can obtain the meteorology officer's number at a local airport for conditions aloft. Many times the pilot report for flight conditions for local FPO's can be informative for our hobby. These are most often pre-recorded and updated every hour or two depending on conditions. You can also access the GOES satellite system to look at various patterns to may affect your area. I would try the GOES east sat for your area first. There are other reporting stations and observations available, most often used by your (very) local TV station. Call and ask-most times they'll be glad to share.

Thanks for the suggestions. As to winds aloft, it is jet streams I'm curious about; at my club's launch yesterday, we were launching into a roughly 10mph wind, and noticed that the rockets weren't tilting into the wind like they normaly would. We had to to angle the rods to about 20° to get the rockets to recover downrange.

 

[oroman1026]

https://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1796

I purchased this DVD set some time ago. It's great! I would suggest purchasing when they go on sale instead of paying full price.