Course Syllabus

Severe thunderstorm with downburstphoto by Zachary Biggs

Be sure to check the Announcements for the Zoom password for our regular class meetings!!

Professor Dale Durran
Remote Office Hours: Tuesday 12:30-1:20 PM      https://washington.zoom.us/j/98146650288                                                       Wednesday  2:00-3:00 PM   https://washington.zoom.us/j/870908459
Physical office: 502 ATG Building, (206) 543-7440
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TA: Daniel Lloveras
Remote Office Hours: Tuesday 1:30-2:30 PM                       https://washington.zoom.us/j/836118073
                                                  Thursday  1:30-2:30 PM                    https://washington.zoom.us/j/116897001

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Online learning strategy: We'll present lectures live online at their scheduled time using Zoom.  Much of the material will be in the form of Keynote slides. We will also use Poll Everywhere and show videos (there is a lot of great footage of severe storms and hurricanes).  The Zoom session will be recorded and posted.  Further details will be posted here as we try and test things (like bandwidth for videos).

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 the lightning, hail, tornadoes, 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 (1997 updated Edition) by Jack Williams (for the science of thunderstorms, hurricanes and a bit of general meteorology).  Inexpensive used copies of both books are available online.  Note that pdfs are posted for the readings for the first week under Assignments, so there should be no problem if you get these books a week late.

** PDFs of the keynote slides for each lecture will be posted here. **

Grading: Homeworks 25%, two midterms each 23%, final 29%

Exam dates: Midterm 1 April 29; Midterm 2 May 20;
                             Final June 11, 8:30-10:30 AM PDT

 

Week 1

  • Overview
  • Water in the atmosphere
  • Making clouds
  • Storm of the week

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

  • Making raindrops and hail
  • Multicell thunderstorms
  • Satellite observations
  • Storm of the week

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

  • Hurricane life cycles
  • Historical storm tracks, climatology
  • Hazards: storm surge, wave generation
  • Storm of the week

Week 8

Week 9

  • Hurricane Katrina
  • Evacuation issues
  • Storm of the week

Week 10

  • Likely changes in a warming climate
  • Adaption and mitigation
  • Storm of the week

Important Alert

This course is scheduled to run synchronously at our scheduled class time via Zoom. These Zoom class sessions will be recorded. The recording will capture the presenter’s audio, video and computer screen. Student audio and video will be recorded if they share their computer audio and video during the recorded session. The recordings will only be accessible to students enrolled in the course to review materials. These recordings will not be shared in the public, and will be deleted after 90 days.

UW-IT and Zoom have a Business Associates Agreement (BAA) to protect the security and privacy of UW Zoom accounts and is FERPA  compliant. Students who do not wish to give consent to being recorded should:

  1. Choose a Zoom username that does not include any personal identifying information like their name or UW Net ID
  2. Never share their computer audio or video during their Zoom sessions

By enrolling in this class, all students agree to  never upload the recordings to other platforms.  

Course Summary:

Date Details Due