RAC AWIPS and Hazard Services

The majority of the RAC AWIPS Fundamentals course has been separated into the Fundamentals of AWIPS Course (FAC) as of October 2025. All FAC material, including the AWIPS Fundamentals and Proficiency exam, should be completed before beginning RAC. 

This is a reference page for the AWIPS Convective Warning Fundamentals section that supports those taking RAC. This page contains links to AWIPS Fundamentals web pages and job sheets. WES exercises also accompany this course.

FY26–1 Course Schedule

  • April 22, 2026 - FAC Course Completion Deadline (Including AWIPS Fundamentals and Proficiency Exam)
  • June 24, 2026 - Hazard Services Proficiency Exam deadline
    • Hazard Services training a prerequisite for Flash Flood Applied Performance Drills in the cloud  
  • July 1, 2026 - Flash Flood Applied Performance Drills deadline 
  • July 6-10, 2026- Take Severe Workshop Primer (2–3 hours) on local WFOCluster cloud machine week before workshop
    • No later than 17z on Friday
  • July 13-17, 2026 - Workshop in National Weather Center

FY26–2 Course Schedule

  • May 13, 2026 - FAC Course Completion Deadline (Including AWIPS Fundamentals and Proficiency Exam)
  • July 15, 2026 - Hazard Services Proficiency Exam deadline
    • Hazard Services training a prerequisite for Flash Flood Applied Performance Drills in the cloud  
  • July 22, 2026 - Flash Flood Applied Performance Drills deadline 
  • July 27-31, 2026- Take Severe Workshop Primer (2–3 hours) on local WFOCluster cloud machine week before workshop
    • No later than 17z on Friday
  • August 3-7, 2026 - Workshop in National Weather Center

Course Details 

1a. Hazard Services Training (3–4 hours) 

  • Hazard Services-related training (including the subsequent exam and flash flood applied performance drills) is taken in the cloud using separate instructions and machines than most of the WES materials in RAC.
    • See the "Instructions for the Hazard Services Training and Proficiency Exam" in your CLC transcript
    • Students sign up for a cloud session using WDTD's Cloud Automated Scheduler (CLAS).
    • Student use follow-along videos and a CAVE session to learn Hazard Services

 

1b. Hazard Services Proficiency Exam (1–2 hours) 

  • Coordinate with your facilitator before scheduling your Hazard Services exam session in the cloud.
  • See the "Instructions for the Hazard Services Training and Proficiency Exam" in your CLC transcript for access to special instructions for scheduling the Hazard Services exam. 
  • RAC facilitator sends scanned exam notes to Michael.Lowe@noaa.gov and Samantha.Boyd@noaa.gov (or send via mail), and they mark you complete

 

2. Additional Related RAC WES/Cloud Information

  • Severe Applied Performance Drills (3–4 hours)
    • Coordinate with your facilitator to take this training on your WFOCluster cloud machine as part of the Convective Storm Structure and Evolution topic.
    • Launch the severe training from the Applications->WDTD->WDTD Training Resources menu (FY22v1 RAC Applied Performance Drills) and practice, following along with videos.
  • Impact-Based Warning Exercises (2 hours)
    • This has been removed from RAC for 24-3.
  • Flash Flood Applied Performance Drills (3–4 hours)
    • Schedule the Flash Flood Applied Performance Drills in the cloud following the "Flash Flood Applied Performance Drills" instructions in the CLC when you get to the flash flood topic. 
    • This training requires Hazard Services
  • Severe Workshop Primer (2–3 hours)
    • Coordinate with your facilitator to take this training on your WFOCluster cloud machine, and follow your transcript instructions.
    • Take this the week before the RAC workshop (by Friday 17z) or as close to that as you can.
  • Primer Assignment (10 min)
    • The last item listed in the Primer section of your CLC curriculum is a link to a Google Form.
    • This assignment asks your comfort level with the Primer-related material, and should be completed after you have finished ALL of the Severe Primer tasks.
    • Once the assignment is completed, WDTD will mark you complete for the Primer.
  • RAC References 
  • The procedures used in the RAC WES exercises and workshop are available on the RAC References page. 

For any questions about completing AWIPS Fundamentals contact nws.wdtd.awips@noaa.gov.