Doppler radar represents one of the most significant advances in meteorological technology in recent years. It provides meteorologists with new techniques and methodologies for forecasting weather accurately. Now meteorologists must learn to implement this technology in practical, everyday weathe... Show moreDoppler radar represents one of the most significant advances in meteorological technology in recent years. It provides meteorologists with new techniques and methodologies for forecasting weather accurately. Now meteorologists must learn to implement this technology in practical, everyday weather forecasting. COMET (Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology Education and Training) is designed to meet this need, through three programs: the Residence Program, the Outreach Program, and the Distance Learning Program. The specific goals of the Distance Learning Program are to educate and train operational weather forecasters in the techniques of modern weather forecasting. (COMET's Activities Fiscal Year Report 1991) The Distance Learning Program has generated significant interest because of its approach to teaching principles and techniques in meteorology. It develops and utilizes computer based learning (CBL) modules. There are currently two completed modules, Doppler Radar Interpretation, and Boundary Detection and Convection Initiation. These multi-media CBL modules enable the user to interact with the program in a step by step process for learning meteorology. However, the educational potential of the modules needs to be assessed to determine their effectiveness for users with various degrees of experience in meteorology. This is accomplished by getting feedback from a number of people who have completed the modules. This paper will assess how well the Distance Learning Program teaches meteorological forecasting. The three methods I used to accomplish this assessment were to a) work through the COMET meteorological modules, b) study the 11 July 1990 meteorological case for presentation in the workshop, Project Learn, and c) perform a nowcast of the 29 June 1989 case. The modules are not designed for a layperson, but rather for a meteorologist or graduate student in meteorology. However, significant interest in the modules by laypersons has produced the need to re-evaluate the effectiveness of the modules as a learning tool for non-meteorologists. One target group is people with an extensive science background in areas other than meteorology. The primary concern is whether the COMET products provide a non-meteorologist with the necessary background information to begin applying basic meteorological ideas in forecasting. As such a person, I was assigned to work through the modules and critique them in order to give initial feedback.The other parts of the project are designed to gauge the meteorology I have learned from the modules. This was done in two phases. I began by studying the 11 July 1990 Colorado hailstorm case. Then I helped teach Doppler radar and satellite interpretation to secondary and high school teachers using this example case. As a final test, I made a nowcast (see Appendix A for definition of terms) of the 29 June 1989 Greeley, CO case. Show less