Field Methods
Backpacking in Colorado
For Meteorology majors, the Department of Geography offers three field methods expeditions that fulfill the experiential learning requirement: Weather instrumentation, the Rocky Mountain Field Course, and the Hokie Storm Chase. Geography majors can use the Rocky Mountain Field Course to satisfy their experiential learning requirement.
The field studies class inspect a weather station
Weather instrumentation
Weather Instrumentation includes learning how to build, maintain, and repair solar-powered remote-access weather stations owned by Virginia Tech in Virginia and West Virginia. This experience is structured for five days of work: one on campus, two working on local weather stations in the field, and two working on mountain stations in the field. Most field work will be part of day trips, but overnight camping is an option. This experience is scheduled for mid-May, soon after the end of spring semester.
Collage of students at weather stations
Rocky Mountain Field Course
Study the most extreme alpine geography and weather in the contiguous United States with a 15-day trip to the Rocky Mountains. Being in good shape is a requirement for this adventure which includes backpacking through Colorado. Acclimatizing is necessary for the first several days in preparation for the time spent high on the continental divide, camping at elevations above 11,000 feet and climbing to 14,000 feet. In addition to a mid-trip day in Aspen, two days are spent in Leadville, the highest town in the U.S., for laundry, food restocking, meals, and a hot shower.
Students in Rocky Mountains
Collage of images from Colorado
Hokie Storm Chase
Each year in the final few weeks of spring, a group of 15 to 20 students and instructors head to the Great Plains to find the biggest summer storms. Participants can expect spending long days in vans, studying weather data in real time to determine the most likely location of severe weather, and then trekking to that area to see if their forecasts are accurate. Once a storm is located, the chasers determine a safe distance to station themselves for observation, that move if needed to avoid danger but stay with the moving cell. Participants are actively engaged in collecting and interpreting data, forecasting the probable time and place of severe weather, and finding the route to chase the storm. Lodging is modest, flexibility is mandatory, and boredom is common, but the thrill of being next to a supercell thundering across the plains is an experience of a lifetime.