earth science

National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest

National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest rather than just read about it. In short: The National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest, or NCWFC, was a yearly competition among colleges and Universities in the US run by Penn State. There were over 1000 participants from about 45 institutions.

Key takeaways

National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest, or NCWFC, was a yearly competition among colleges and Universities in the US run by Penn State. There were over 1000 participants from about 45 institutions. In 2006, the competition was transferred to the University of Oklahoma and run as the WxChallenge.

Organization Entrants in the contest must be affiliated with a college or university, but they range in age and knowledge from undergraduates to professors. Each year, 13 cities are picked for forecasting; the current city changes every 2 weeks. Contestants forecast 4 days per week for the following day's high temperature (in Fahrenheit), low temperature, and precipitation (forecast by category). The precipitation categories are:

0 -- no precipitation or trace 1 -- trace - 0.05", liquid water equivalent, inclusive 2 -- 0.06-0.24", inclusive 3 -- 0.25-0.49", inclusive 4 -- 0.50-0.99", inclusive 5 -- >=1.00" One "error" point is given for each degree of error on temperature, and 4 error points are given for each error in precipitation category.

Winners 2001-2005: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2006: San Jose State University

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest

In research: National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Meteorology competitions, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest in simple terms?

Why does National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest.