Fundamentals of AWIPS Course (FAC) Overview

The Fundamentals of AWIPS Course is typically assigned by your training facilitator shortly after onboarding to your local WFO. You will need to work with your facilitator to get access to and time on the WFO WES-in-the-Cloud instance as well as proctoring the exam at the end of the training. If you have any specific questions that your facilitator can not answer, please reach out to the AWIPS team at nws.wdtd.awips@noaa.gov. This course will take approximately 15–20 hours to complete, so please use the following Course Details steps to keep on track.

Course Details 

(see Fundamentals of AWIPS Course (FAC) in your CLC curriculum)
 

1. Fundamentals of AWIPS Course Intro (8 minutes; CLC link for students, web link for others)

  • FAC students log into the CLC and take this short intro presentation to understand how to take the course

 

2. WES-2 Bridge Exercises (4 hours; WES-2 Bridge and test case, AWIPS Fundamentals videos and training case)

  • You will use one monitor to practice AWIPS on a WES-in-the-Cloud instance while following along with YouTube training videos on the other monitor.
  • Local facilitator provides access to WFOCluster WES-in-the-Cloud instance 
    • Local WES-2 Bridge machines have been replaced with WFOCluster_## cloud instances
  • Practice using AWIPS by following along with step-by-step videos on YouTube (see this page for links to the videos and text transcriptions)
    • Note: the point of the WES-2 Bridge exercises is to actually practice the tasks, so watching the videos online is not sufficient.
  • After you complete AWIPS Fundamentals WES Exercise groups (e.g. six videos under CAVE Basics), mark yourself complete in your transcript in the CLC. 

 

3. AWIPS Fundamentals VLab Training (10–15 hours)


  • Review web pages and practice with job sheets using specially designed AWIPS Convective Warning Fundamentals VLab applet (also available from the "Forecaster References" menu and "FAC AWIPS Fundamentals" submenu on top of page)
  • Job sheets requiring live AWIPS (e.g. RPG product submission and status monitor) or WES-2 Bridge (e.g. WarnGen) are noted in the training.
    • For a summary of the jobsheets with the web content hosted in VLab, see the VLab Jobsheets summary page. Note that most, but not all, sections of the VLab applet have VLab jobsheets.
    • Live can be used for more jobsheets, but some jobsheets are best done on the WFOCluster WES-2 Bridge managed by the local facilitator.
  • After you complete reading the AWIPS Fundamentals VLab sections and taking the embedded VLab jobsheets, mark yourself complete in your curriculum.

 

4a. Review AWIPS Proficiency Test Task List 

  • Review the task list review sheet PDF to assess if you are ready to take the proficiency test
  • Review the appropriate VLab pages, job sheets, or videos for tasks you are not prepared to demonstrate.

 

4b. Take AWIPS Proficiency Test (1–2 hours)

  • Training facilitator proctors timed test and notes scores on tasks
  • Students takes a one question test from their transcript in the CLC to enable tracking
  • Training facilitator sends scanned exam notes to Michael.Lowe@noaa.gov and Samantha.Boyd@noaa.gov (or send via mail), and they mark you complete
  • Proficiency Test needs to be completed before beginning the Radar and Applications Course (RAC)