Weather Tutorial?

So I have been reading the NWAC mountain weather forecasts for about a year now, and they seem to be the best for what I'm interested in (Cascade snow.) My eyes generally glaze over however when I read the first few paragraphs about "closed upper level lows" and "troughs." Does anyone have some pointers to a good site or book to read so that I can better understand this info? Also, can someone point me to the models that they always talk about? Are these publicly available?<br><br>thanks!

The book used in Atmos 101 at UW is a really good comprehensive introduction to all things weather related:<br><br>Essentials of Meteorology: An Invitation to the Atmosphere<br>by C. Donald Ahrens, 2005, 4th Edition<br>Thomson--Brooks/Cole<br>ISBN 0534422640<br><br>You can find used copies of the 3rd edition on the web for less than $10 (try Amazon). It is detailed, but includes lots of illustrations and examples and will serve as a good reference book. It also reads like weatherpeople speak so you learn the vocabulary.<br><br>Model output is available on the web in lots of places. Here is a fairly comprehensive list of radar, satellite, and model output:<br><br> www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/loops/

The MM5 is also nice to look at (try looping the 36 km domain for a few of the fields, then reading the NWAC forecast, then looping the fields again to see if they make sense):

www.atmos.washington.edu/mm5rt/

Nice - thanks for the tip, Matt.