My name is Nick Vita and I am the new local manager for the WxChallenge forecast competition. WxChallege is a forecasting challenge hosted by the University of Oklahoma in which you forecast temperature, wind, and precip for different cities across the country. You will compete with other students at Universities across the country to see who is the best individual forecaster and the best school as a whole. All students are invited to participate regardless of class standing.

If you are a Freshmen-Sophomore you will only compete against people in those years, while Juniors compete against Juniors and so on. This way, you don't have to worry about competing against people that are a lot more experienced than you. You only forecast for one city for two weeks once a day, making this not a huge time commitment. You can spend as little or as long as you want on each forecast. I encourage anyone who has at least some interest in forecasting to join, as it will give you good experience. The best way to learn is by doing, and this competition will give you plenty of practice.

The cost of joining is $5 dollars for the whole year or $3 for half of the year. These fees will be used to buy trophies that will be given out to the best forecasters in each city, the best team, and the best overall forecasters at years end. Participating in this contest is a great thing to put on your resume and if you participate and do well that will look even better. If you want to know more about WxChallenge then visit its website at http://wxchallenge.com/.

 I am attaching a copy of the sign up form to this email. You can print this out, fill it out and return it to me along with your payment. The deadline to hand this in is Wednesday September 23rd. Starting Thursday the 3rd, I will put a folder right on the cafe counter in the Weather Station, in which you can put your sign up forms. If you would like to write a check, please make it out to Michelle Palmer. Michelle will assist me in cashing the checks and then I am going to write a large check to send to the WxChallenge Manager. You can nearly always find me in the Weather Station at almost anytime but if you want to meet at a certain time I have fairly flexible hours if you want to personally hand it in.

If you have any questions feel free to send me an email at any time.

Thanks,
Nicholas Vita
Undergraduate in Meteorology
Forecasting and Communications
Minoring in GIS
PSUBAMS Vice President
Penn State University