National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest

 03 September 2003

Hey Everybody,

It is time for the National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest
(NCWFC)!!!  So I have already talked to some of you about this, but in
case you want more information, go to the following link:

http://www.ems.psu.edu/NFC/announce.html

The first city is Miami and it begins on September 15.  If you decide
you would like to participate, just email me and I will sign you up. 
Entering the contest costs $4, which you can either bring to my office
in Geology B679 or you could just give it to me if you see me in the
hallways.  

I will have a form that each person needs to sign, or just send the
information to me via email.  On this form, I need your full name, a
code name, and a 9-digit identification number of some sort.  For
example,

        Gregory Masi          gjm142           123456789

The 9-digit code is something you need to be able to remember and should
be different from others in the group.  The code name is how you will be
listed in the standings.

We need to submit our information soon, so immediate replies would be
much appreciated.  

The general web page for NCWFC is http://www.ems.psu.edu/NFC/  which is
where you can find the complete contest rules.

Hope to hear from you all soon!!!!

Greg

Hey everybody,

Just an update on the NCWFC....

We are going to opt out of forecasting for Miami because this forecast
period occurs before the start of classes.  We are only forecasting for
8 periods.  

QUARTER 1:

Period #2  Calumet, MI  (9-29 - 10-9)
Period #3  Los Angeles, CA
Period #4  Billings, MT
Period #5  Chicago, IL

QUARTER 2:

Period #7  St. Louis, MO
Period #8  Binghamton, NY
Period #9  Redding, CA
Period #11 Flagstaff, AZ

If anyone has any objections to doing these particular forecast periods,
let me know.  Hanne and myself picked these to avoid having to forecast
during weeks of finals and breaks.

Details on how you should enter your forecast will be coming soon.

Just a reminder, the contest does cost $4, so just find me in my office
(Geology Bldg. B679) when you get a chance or just give it to me if you
see me in the hallways.

Another note, I just found out that code names must be 6 characters or
less.  Therefore, I just chopped down the long names to 6 characters. 
If you want to change your name, let me know and I will fix it for you.

Below is the list of participants so far, with the code names and
9-digit IDs.  Please check this to see that all information is correct.


Name			Codename		9-digit ID(DELETED FOR WEB)

DIVISION 2--Graduate Students

Gregory Masi		gregm			
Hanne Murphey		hanne			
Mimi Hughes		mimi			
Brian Medeiros		brian			
Brian Kahn		bwgkuf			
Xin Qu			Backy			
Nicole Lovenduski	nslove			
Michael J. Garay	mgaray			
Chris Holloway		chollo			
Albert Nester		royal			
Simona Bordoni		simib			
Brendon Rubin-Oster	bruin			
Ben Meiselman		bam412			

DIVISION 1--Faculty and Staff

James Murakami	tenki				

We would like to hold map discussions throughout the forecast contest. 
Most likely, these will occur on Monday of each week. We are hoping to
hold them in the Synoptic Meteorology Lab.  What would be ideal is if we
could pair off into groups of two, with each pair preparing and giving
the map discussions for one period only.  These don't have to be long,
but just some sort of slide show of forecast models, surface maps,
satellites, etc, in which the major weather features of the week can be
highlighted.  I know that some of you may not have ANY forecasting
experience.  Don't fret.  We can pair you up with someone who has some
experience OR just let you go toward the end of the contest.  That is
the plan right now.  In the meantime, please email me with times on
Mondays that will NOT work for you.  I will try my best to accommodate
everyones schedule.

If you have any further questions, feel free to email me.  

Take care,
Greg

 28 September 2003
the instructions of how to enter the
daily forecasts, so that Greg can submit them.

1) ssh zion.atmos.ucla.edu
2) cd /storm12/NCWFC
3) nfcentry  (this is the program to enter your forecast)
      it will ask you for you user name - make sure you enter .CLA after
      it (i.e. hanne.CLA)

This is all you need to do, your forecast will be entered into a daily
file.

If you have any problems, please let me know. 

Hanne