This course provides an introduction to the physics of extreme weather events. The course uses weather disasters and threats to illustrate the physical laws governing the atmosphere.
We examine solar eruptions, ice ages, climate change, monsoons, El Niño, hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves, thunderstorms, lightning, hail, tornados, and other extreme atmospheric events to illustrate the basic physical laws that produce these events. Participants are expected to apply these principles to a series of homework assignments including hands-on weather forecasting and analysis of storm events.
Required resources for this course include:
- An on-line subscription to XamPREP: Essentials of Meteorology by C. Donald Ahrens with
- (Optionally) A hard-copy version of Essentials of Meteorology by C. Donald Ahrens (it's redundant but some really prefer to also have the traditional paper copy), and
- A copy of Extreme Weather by Chris Burt.