Dunno if this will help but you could try getting some nautical met textbooks (avilible from Yacht Chandlers) they contain a lot more detail than is found in the Thom book and a lot of it is transferable to flying - weather is weather. Many moons ago when I was a youg sea-gerkin I did the Yachmaster offshore/ocean course and a large part of the met bit involed self forcasting - on first impressions a bit dry (no pun) but when you get in to it a lot of fun (blimey that sounds a bit sad). As has been mentioned above use the mark one eyeball and look out the window and compare with the forecast - you'll soon see patterns developing