Course Syllabus

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Instructor: Prof. Daehyun Kim (daehyun@uw.edu)

  • Office Hours: Wednesday 2-3pm and Thursday 1-2pm, or by appointments (ATG 608)

TA: Litai Kang (kanglt@uw.edu)

  • Office Hours: Monday 1:30-2:30pm and Tuesday 1:30-2:30pm (ATG 402)
  • CLUE Exam Reviews: Thursday April 25th, Thursday May 16th, & Thursday June 6th 6:30-8:00pm (MGH 231)

Class meets: MWF, 12:30-1:20pm (ARC 147)

Our goal: To explore the science, history and impacts of thunderstorms and hurricanes.  We will examine the basic processes responsible for both types of storms, and for the lightning, hail, tornados, high winds and storm surges that accompany them.  Significant historical examples will be presented, along with their impact on human activities and strategies for personal safety and societal adaptation. 

Textbooks:  Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes (for hurricane history and impacts) by Kerry Emanuel and The Weather Book by Jack Williams (for the science of thunderstorms, hurricanes and a bit of general meteorology) 

Grading: Poll everywhere credit 10%, Homeworks 20%, two midterms each 25%, final 25%

Class schedule overview (will be updated throughout the quarter, subject to change)

Week Course material Reading/Reference
1-2 Clouds

1

04/01: Course overview, water in the atmosphere (slides)
04/03: Condensation, relative humidity, dew point (slides)
04/05: Cloud Condensation Nuclei (slides)

*Storm of the week: cyclone Idai (slides)

Weather Book

  • pp. 63-70

Divine Wind

  • pp. 3-5, 18-21

2

04/08: Adiabatic cooling (slides)
04/10: Buoyancy, stability (slides)
04/12: Cloud types, lapse rate, stability (slides)

*Storm of the week: 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak (slides)

Weather Book

  • pp. 71-80

Divine Wind

  • pp. 30-39

3-5

Thunderstorms

3

4/15: Thunderstorm ingredients (slides)
4/17: Lightning (slides)
4/19: Lightning safety (slides)

*Storm of the week: April 17, 2019

Weather Book

  • pp. 130-131 and 135-136

Divine Wind

  • Chs 9, 11, 13

4

4/22: Single cell thunderstorms, Downdraft, Gust Front, Microburst (slides)
4/24: Flash floods, Raindrops, Cloud microphysics (slides)
4/26: Hail, vertical shear, multi-cell storms (slides)

Weather Book

  • pp. 83-86, and 115-122

Divine Wind

  • Chs 15, 17, 19

5

4/29: Supercell thunderstorms, weather radar (slides)
5/1: Mid-term 1
5/3: Tornado formation, Fujita scale (slides)

*Storm of the week: 2011 Super outbreak (slides)

Weather Book

  • pp. 122-127 and 190-193

Divine Wind

  • Ch 21

6

Tornadoes

6

5/6:  Tornado safety, Non-mesocyclonic tornado (slides)
5/8: Mesocyclone tornado (slides)
5/10: Tornado safety, adaptation, tornado climatology (slides)

*Storm of the week: Cyclone Fani (slides)

Weather Book

  • pp. 135-136

Divine Wind

  • Chs 22-23

7-10

Hurricanes

7

5/13: Hurricanes overview, structure (slides)
5/15: Coriolis force, TC climatology (slides)
5/17: TC lifecycle, tracks (slides)

Weather Book

  • pp. 139-151

Divine Wind

  • Chs 25-27

8

5/20: Storm surge, Galveston (slides)
5/22: Mid-term 2
5/24: Ike, Satellite image, ET transition (slides)

*Storm of the week: May 22 tornado outbreak (slides)

Weather Book

  • pp. 151-159

Divine Wind

  • Chs 28 and 30

9

5/27: No class (Memorial day)
5/29: Katrina (slides)
5/31: TC forecast, Impacts of ENSO (slides)

*Storm of the week: May 2019 tornado outbreak (slides)

Weather Book

  • pp. 159-161, 207-209

Divine Wind

  • Chs 31, 32, Epilogue

10

6/3: Superstorm Sandy (slides)
6/5: Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Nargis (slides)
6/7: Climate Change (slides)

NPR: 22 post-Katrina photos 
Reports of anarchy at Superdome overstated (Seattle Times)
The pendulum of hurricane Katrina reporting.  (New York Times)

 

Study Guide

Midterm1

Midterm2

Post midterm2

 

CLUE review session slides

Midterm1

Midterm2

Final

 

 

 

 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due