Although I was trained in Aviation Weather as a navigator, this summer I decided to get a deeper education in the science that underlies all of our weather. It’s not that hard and makes my understanding of forecasts better.
I started by finding a used copy of the basic college level textbook “Meteorology Today” by C. Donald Athens. You don’t need the latest edition, but one published in the last ten years will help when it comes to understanding numerical forecast models. You can always supplement it with a 2015 color copy of the “Weather Map Handbook” by Tim Vasquez, which I highly recommend in any event.
Now simply read one chapter in “Meteorology Today” at a time. After reading each chapter, you then watch the one hour lecture corresponding to it by a TV Meteorologist and professor David Cocchiarella on “YouTube”.
After watching the lecture, now look at the questions at the back of the chapter to ensure you’ve absorbed that material.
Repeat for each of the 13 chapters and you have the equivalent of an introductory course in Meteorlogy and the physics that underly it.
Here’s link to the Corresponding online lectures.
https://youtu.be/oN9N0qSX7KQ
