SCN3610 Weather and Climate
4 advanced liberal arts credits
Weather and climate impact many aspects of life: from minor daily joys and annoyances, to major storms, to longer term impacts such as droughts. These effects can be felt personally, regionally, and even affect the global economy. In this class we will study the atmospheric processes that drive the daily weather, the regional and seasonal variations in the weather, and the potential for climate change. We will also look at how human actions can affect the atmosphere. We will explore these ideas by using publicly available data to prepare weather forecasts of regional and global events. In the spring semesters, we will forecast and track snow storms and the early parts of tornado season; in the fall semesters, we will forecast and track hurricanes and the first storms of winter. We will discuss different forecasting models in class, and see how they compare to each other and contribute to our overall understanding of the atmosphere and our ability to forecast. We will also include a variety of experiments to demonstrate the basic physical processes in the atmosphere
Prerequisite: NST 10XX