March and April 2020 / Online
KNMI recently provided forecaster training for a group of new forecasters at Met Eireann in Dublin.
From January to March the training was provided on-site in the classroom. However, in the second week of March, the COVID-19 lockdown started, so the trainers had to introduce online lessons. This was done with much appreciated help from Heleen ter Pelkwijk and Tomislav Marekovic from Eumetcal.
In the series of online lectures forecasters were trained in aviation meteorology, convective weather, and winter weather. PowerPoint presentations were predominantly used, with websites being used on occasion, all via Webex.
Assessments were made in the modules, e.g by asking the participant questions. In one lecture about climate, trainer Gerard vd Schrier (KNMI) turned his laptop webcam to a houseroom experiment to show the butterfly effect (see screenshot). This was a clearly visible and instructive point in this lecture. Because the instructors were with a small group, the chat function proved to be very popular!