Transforming University Students into Professional Weather

Forecasters
– the ab initio Training of Meteorologists in Environment Canada

Paul Yang, Curtis Mooney, Lisa Torneby, Kitty Wilkes

Prediction and Training Division

Meteorological Service of Canada - PNR
Environment Canada
Edmonton, AB T6B 2X3

Abstract

Since 1999, Environment Canada has annually hired about 30 new meteorologist interns
to participate in the Meteorologist Operational Internship Program (MOIP). In this
program, the interns go through seven months of in-classroom training. They are then
posted to the weather centres where they receive an additional three months of on-the-job
training which includes “double-banking” with a supervising Meteorologist. The interns
are then promoted to Developmental Meteorologists, which completes their MOIP
training. After another 18 months (based on performance) they become full-fledged
operational Meteorologists.

The English in-classroom training is conducted in Halifax and Edmonton, respectively,

whereas the French training is conducted in Montreal. This in-classroom training focuses
on three categories, namely, meteorological theory and its applications, practical skills,
and personal suitability. This presentation will use the experience of the Edmonton
Training Centre as an example to briefly discuss the objectives, content, methods and
emphases of the MOIP training.