The "Synopsis/Surface Analysis" top-bar tab starts with the national Surface Analysis chart. Click on "Supplemental Wx" (lower-right on the chart) to overlay 12-24-36-48-hour Surface Prognosis charts and Radar Summary charts divided into CONUS regions as well as a national CONUS chart.
Additional tools that might help are surface analysis charts, national forecasts, radar/ satellite images (but alone they are insufficient), and local observations.
Both WSI and WxWorx broadcast the latest
surface analysis chart, updated every three hours.
The
surface analysis chart, although informative, can be tossed right away because it reports current conditions, not a forecast.
The
surface analysis chart depicts the surface location of the warm front, but the frontal surface reaches ahead with a slope much shallower than a cold front.
Each workshop targets some specific topic and turns up more of those useful weather nuggets, like what a squall line looks like on a
Surface Analysis Chart. They're to the point and don't waste your time.
Compare that to where the front shows on the last
surface analysis chart at the time the chart was issued, and you'll get a sense of how fast it's really moving relative to places you're planning to go.
The base is a Google-generated map, but you can see airports and weather overlaid for a radius around any point as well as NEXRAD, AIRMETs, SIGMETs, and a
Surface Analysis chart for the country.
This does not mean the
surface analysis chart should be cast aside.
Look at the dew-point temperatures on a
surface analysis chart. A lot of moisture reported (60 degrees F / 16 degrees C) in the summer is fuel for thunderstorms.