If you’ve ever wanted to read a weather map the way a forecaster does, Tim Vasquez’s Weather Graphics is one of the best places on the web to learn. Here’s a guide to what’s there, starting with the free resources we like best.
Who is Tim Vasquez?
Tim Vasquez has been writing about weather since 1984, when he started a weather page for a Dallas newspaper. From 1989 to 1998 he was an Air Force meteorologist, and he also worked at two television stations. He wrote Digital Atmosphere, weather-analysis software used around the world, and several of the best-known forecasting handbooks for students and enthusiasts. He lives in Texas and works as a software programmer, consulting meteorologist and columnist for Weatherwise magazine.
Free: the weather reference chart (PDF)
A packed reference sheet that’s handy to print and keep by the computer. It covers:
- How to decode METAR airport reports and SYNOP observations, with worked examples
- The station plot symbols on weather maps: cloud cover, present weather, pressure tendency and cloud types
- The hailstone size, Beaufort wind, Fujita tornado and hurricane scales
- Front and pressure-system symbols, unit conversions and time zones
- Forecasting rules of thumb and the common thunderstorm stability indices (CAPE, lifted index, K-index and more)
Open the weather reference chart (PDF)
The chart is copyright Weather Graphics Technologies. It’s free for personal use; please link to it rather than re-posting the file.
Free: weather maps you can analyze yourself
Weather Graphics posts current surface maps drawn with Digital Atmosphere, laid out to print on 11×17 paper so you can analyze them by hand, the way meteorologists learn. Each region comes two ways: with station plots only, or with terrain and isobars already drawn.
- Western Canada: station plots (includes Alberta)
- Western Canada: terrain and isobars
- Northwest U.S.: station plots (Montana, just south of us)
- All regions
Try this: print the station-plot map, find the highest and lowest pressures, then sketch lines joining equal pressures every 4 hPa. The highs, lows and fronts will jump out. Our guide to reading station plots and oktas (cloud cover in eighths) is in Tools for the weather hobbyist.
Free downloads worth a look
His downloads page has a mix of free tools, demos and classic documents, including:
- Observer Handbook: a guide for amateur weather observers.
- Doswell’s Mesoscale and Storm-Scale Analysis: two classic papers on thunderstorm analysis, for the serious student.
- Front Painter: free Windows tool for drawing fronts and weather symbols on map images.
- Weather symbols font: a free font with meteorological symbols (for your own use).
- Demos of RAOB and WX-SIM: the sounding-analysis program and the single-station forecast program. WX-SIM is what we use to make the local forecast here at West Lethbridge Weather.
His books
- Weather Map Handbook (fourth edition, 2023): how to read every kind of weather chart, satellite picture and radar product, plus model guidance and how to decode raw observations.
- Weather Forecasting Handbook and Weather Analysis & Forecasting: how forecasters actually put a forecast together.
- Severe Storm Forecasting and the Storm Chasing Handbook: thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes.
- Weather Forecasting Red Book and Extreme American Weather.
Software and more
- Digital Atmosphere: draws professional weather maps from live data.
- RAOB (by Eosonde Research Services) for upper-air soundings, and WX-SIM for single-station forecasts, both available through Weather Graphics.
- Historical weather data archives, station identifier lists, and a forum.
- More weather programs: our weather software guide.
From Gary
I think Tim has some pretty cool stuff. His weather reference chart, with all the different weather symbols on it, is one I keep coming back to. If you’re curious about the weather, his site is well worth a look.
Gary, VE6CV
Learn to forecast
Ready to use these tools for real? The free Forecaster Track on Lethbridge Weather teaches you to read station plots, draw isobars and fronts, read the upper air and the models, and make your own Lethbridge forecast, in Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced lessons.
Sources
- Weather Map Handbook and author background, Weather Graphics
- Current weather maps, Weather Graphics
- Downloads, Weather Graphics
- Weather reference chart (PDF), Weather Graphics Technologies