METEOROLOGIST

Meet your instructor and get oriented with the course structure, then start thinking about the historical extreme-weather event you'll track across every weekly assignment.

• Course structure and expectations
• Final project introduction
• Selecting a high-impact weather event

Get comfortable reading the meteorological data sources you'll use all course long, from wind formation to the Skew-T log-P diagram's role as a thermodynamic workspace.

• The four scales of meteorology
• Forces that produce wind
• Adiabatic lapse rates and stability
• Skew-T log-P diagram introduction
• Workshop: Analyze North American weather stories and prepare a short briefing

Identify the processes that form different weather systems and cloud types, using parcel theory to explain why air rises, cools, and condenses.

• Vertical motion, convection, and air density
• Parcel theory fundamentals
• Four types of instability
• Cloud types and their formation
• Lab: Virtual fluid-dynamics parcel visualization

Assignment #1: Lock Your Event + First Profile
Select the historical extreme-weather event your project will track, and write a one-paragraph justification of its impact.

Understand the largest players on the weather field, from Hadley and Ferrel cells to jet streams and their role in shaping global patterns.

• Hadley, Ferrel, and Polar cells
• Trade winds and global heat distribution
• Jet streams and temperature gradients
• Decoding METARs
• AI Lab: Plot Lower 48 winter impacts across ENSO phases

Take a closer look at how climate change affects weather trends over time, and discover the industries with a vested interest in tracking them.

• Weather versus climate
• Validating trustworthy reporting sources
• Identifying high- versus low-certainty climate trends
• Discussion: Climate risk across global industries

Assignment #2: Put It in Climatological Context
Create a visualization comparing your event's ingredients against long-term climatology.

Spot different wind signatures in storms and become proficient reading dual-polarization radar products, from precipitation type to storm structure.

• Radar fundamentals and evolution
• Dual-polarization precipitation and structure signatures
• Erroneous signatures and atmospheric ducting
• Phased array radar preview
• Case study: Thundersnow and storm structure via archived dual-pol radar

Put multiple satellite channels to use identifying real-world phenomena, from storm systems to wildfire hot spots.

• GOES and polar-orbiting satellites
• Visible, infrared, and water-vapor channels
• Geospatial visualization with GIS
• Agricultural and water-management applications
• Workshop: Multi-channel satellite phenomena identification

Assignment #3: Reconstruct the Synoptic Setup
Pull archived surface, upper-air, satellite, and radar data to build a timeline of your event.

Understand the ingredients that create severe weather, and the ones that can lead to a forecast bust.

• Mesoscale convective systems and complexes
• FLASH guidance for flash-flood prediction
• CAPE, CIN, and shear on the Skew-T
• Moisture sources and storm initiation

Combine dual-pol radar signatures with storm thermodynamics to produce your own timely severe-weather warnings.

• Severe-storm radar signatures
• Hail formation and detection
• NWS severe watch/warning criteria
• Workshop: Rapid-response mesoscale warning simulation
• Case study: EF-scale damage survey estimation

Assignment #4: Take a Microscope to the Mesoscale Features
Annotate the mesoscale features that drove your event's ground-level impacts.

Learn how the full vertical thermal profile determines precipitation type, and apply it to accurately forecast winter weather.

• The vertical thermal profile and snowflake types
• Reading the Skew-T for winter setups
• Synoptic snow setup patterns
• NWS winter product types
• AI Lab: Winter onset and traffic impact plotting

Apply conceptual knowledge of tropical systems to think through messaging challenges for their varying, unique impacts.

• Warm-core structure and low shear
• Eye, eyewall, and rainband anatomy
• Track versus intensity forecasting
• Hazard bundle: surge, wind, flooding, tornadoes
• Workshop: Tropical cyclone hazard messaging briefing

Gain insight into the differences between physics-based guidance suites and how AI models may improve on them.

• Computer models and big data in forecasting
• Global versus high-resolution guidance
• AI modeling versus physics-based modeling
• Lab: Model Showdown comparing outputs five days out

Assignment #5: Identify Which Model Data Was Most Useful
Compare GFS and ECMWF output for your event and finalize your Part 1 AI-assisted dashboard.

Understand the unique demands of forecasting across sectors beyond broadcast and government work.

• Forensic meteorology
• Aviation meteorology and incident meteorologists
• Hydrology and energy-load forecasting
• Guest speaker: Consulting or forensic meteorologist

Understand the unique demands of forecasting across sectors beyond broadcast and government work.

• Forensic meteorology
• Aviation meteorology and incident meteorologists
• Hydrology and energy-load forecasting
• Guest speaker: Consulting or forensic meteorologist

Take scientific knowledge and translate it into plain language the public can act on under time pressure.

• Translating data into plain language
• Psychology of risk communication
• Workshop: 280-character emergency alert drafting

Assignment #6: Reproduce the Messaging
Record a short video briefing the public or emergency managers on your event's hazards.

Examine precision versus accuracy, and the value of analyzing your own forecasting misses.

• Addressing busted forecasts
• Statistical error analysis
• How forecast accuracy has improved over time

Present your completed forensic briefing to the class and receive live feedback from peers and your instructor.

• Live student presentations
• Peer and instructor feedback
• Course wrap-up