Weather Camp
NCAS Weather Camp Overview
Howard University NOAA Center for Atmospheric Science hosts annual summer weather camps each summer. The weather camp is supported by funds from the NOAA Educational Partnership Program for Minority Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI) through the NOAA Center in Atmospheric Sciences (NCAS) at Howard University. Camps are routinely sponsored in Washington, DC, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, and Jackson, Mississippi. Plans for additional camps and partnerships in other locations are under development and will be announced on this website.
The goals of the program are:
- To provide broad exposure and training for local high school students in weather forecasting, environmental modeling, and measurements
- To encourage bright underrepresented students to consider science and engineering education and careers in college and beyond through dissemination of educational and career opportunities in atmospheric sciences
- To increase the talent pipeline of students pursuing studies in science and engineering in college
Students are engaged in hands-on activities, field experiments, seminars, tours of research facilities, and workshops that expand their knowledge of atmospheric sciences, weather and forecast models, and environmental instrumentation.
Over the course of the two-week program, students also receive an exposure to the college experience through their stay in University dormitories, interactions with Atmospheric Sciences graduate students, and use of campus computational and academic facilities. A distinctive element of the camp is the weather forecasting contest. Students compete for two weeks to make the most accurate weather forecasts for two regions of the globe. The camp’s top two forecasters win unique technological prizes.
Past sponsors of the weather camp include WeatherBug, The Weather Channel, Accuweather, Nobelis, NOAA, EPA, Caelum, and Raytheon.