Registration for the FY25 version of the course is now open: WOC Winter Registration Form.
Warning Decision Training Division
Office of Chief Learning Officer
Registration for the FY25 version of the course is now open: WOC Winter Registration Form.
The Warning Operations Course (WOC) Winter Track is a course that consists of training on topics that are relevant to warning decision-making during winter weather events. There are 9 instructional components in the Winter Track, including the orientation, 6 distance learning topics, the WES case, and the Forecast Challenge.
The WOC Winter Track is designed to allow every NWS Meteorologist with winter weather responsibilities to participate with the assistance of an on-site facilitator (SOO or locally appointed training officer). Each instructional component for NWS employees are tracked by the WOC on-site facilitator using the NWS Learning Center.
The WOC Winter Track is designed to improve the performance of NOAA’s NWS offices in issuing watches, warnings, and advisories during winter events.
Click on the panels below to access the content for each topic of the course. For most lessons, there will be two ways to access the training materials:
The lesson content is the same for each link. NWS employees enrolled in the WOC Winter Track should already have all of the WOC course content provided on their personal transcript. However, you can also use the LMS Version link to access the content and ensure you receive completion credit.
Brief Description: This presentation provides a brief overview of the Winter WOC
Delivery Methods: Asynchronous instructor-led web modules
Approximate Completion Time: 15 minutes
Content:
Brief Description: This section contains lessons on synoptic and mesoscale conceptual models related to winter weather forecasting, including conveyor belts, frontogenesis, and potential vorticity.
Delivery Methods: Asynchronous instructor-led web modules
Approximate Completion Time: 1.75 hours
Content:
Brief Description: This section contains lessons for forecasting specific hazards, including snowfall, sleet/freezing rain, determining precipitation type, visibility in snow, and severe winter winds.
Delivery Methods: Asynchronous instructor-led web modules
Approximate Completion Time: 5 hours
Content:
Brief Description: This section contains lessons on forecasting winter precipitation in regions near physiogeographic features, such as bodies of water and mountains.
Delivery Method: Asynchronous instructor-led web modules
Approximate Completion Time:3 hours
Content:
Brief Description: This section contains lessons for nowcasting winter weather, including snowfall and precipitation type, and radar-based nowcasting.
Delivery Method: Asynchronous instructor-led web modules
Approximate Completion Time: 1.75 hours
Content:
Brief Description: This section contains lessons on topics affecting winter weather warnings, including high-impact winter systems, NBM 4.2, WPC Winter Weather Desk operations, mesoanalysis, and snow squall warnings.
Delivery Method: Asynchronous instructor-led web modules
Approximate Completion Time: TBD
Content:
Brief Description: This section contains lessons about the probabalistic winter precipitation forecast (PWPF) and messaging, WSSI and WSSI-P, communicating winter weather impacts, and the NOHRSC analysis.
Delivery Method: Asynchronous instructor-led web modules
Approximate Completion Time: TBD
Content:
Brief Description: This section contains the links to the forecast challenge website. Note: Only people with an NOAA-affiliated email can participate or access the site.
Approximate Completion Time: Challenge activities- 2 hours, Challenge webinar - 1 hours (3 hours total)
Brief Description: Students will apply WOC Winter learning objectives in a warning decision making simulation that focuses on mesoscale and storm-scale environmental assessment, data analysis, and warning creation.
Delivery Method: Weather Event Simulator (WES) in the Cloud, with embedded modules, and a CLC quiz.
Approximate Completion Time: 90 minutes
WES Simulation: A Hazard Services-based winter and extreme temperature simulation is under development and will be ready at the end of October.
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