NC State Student Interns

MEA 498/613 NC State/NWS Intern Course

This is an internship experience at the Raleigh National Weather Service (NWS) Office for meteorology majors interested in a career in operational weather forecasting. Activities include job shadowing, weather analysis, development of area forecast discussions, weather and storm summaries, seasonal familiarization sessions, site visits, and participation in routine shift operations of the NWS.

Learn more about this experience by viewing recent Newsletters:

Spring 2018, Summer 2018, Spring 2019

NWA Conference Poster on the NC State/NWS Raleigh Internship

References

AWIPS Familiarization Reference and Worksheet

NEXRAD Eye to the Sky Video

NOAA Technical Memo Operational Mesoanalysis

HPC Unified Surface Analysis Manual

Forecast Process - A General Approach to Weather Forecasting

Another Forecast Process View - Weather Forecasting Techniques and Tools

Area Forecast Discussion Reference

MetTalks: Exploring Careers in Governmental Meteorology (Playlist)

Typical schedule

The internship is typically structured into weekly visits covering the duration of a single semester (anywhere from 10-15 weeks). During those visits, the following

topics are usually discussed. Note that the order is subject to change based on staff availability and workload:

Intro to program, NWS organization, who we serve

Public service duties

Entry Level Met Duties:
- Data collection/QC
- Climate
- Hydro/Rivers
- Media/public calls
- Social Media
- What to expect in first year of met position
- Duties during active/severe weather
- Brief Overview of AWIPS functions/tools

AWIPS Familiarization

Observing systems, including local observations, upper air, satellite, and radar

Forecast process/forecast funnel discussion - what goes into an NWS forecast

Meteorological Watch
- Situational Awareness
- Satellite
- Upper-air observations
- Surface observations
Diagnose Cause and Effect
- Diagnose causes of forecast departures
Determine Plausible Outcomes
- Ensembles
  - dProg/dt
  - Probability charts
  - Plumes
  - Spaghetti Diagrams
- Consistency
- Deterministic global/regional guidance
Update Forecast

Job shadowing

Based on staff availability and workload, one week will be spent working on the near-term forecast, one week will be spent working on the long-term forecast, one week will be spent working on the aviation forecast, and one week will be spent on the fire weather forecast.