Course Home Page

Announcements:

monday, May 19:

final grades are posted under the grades link. for those who took the final exam, your "Ave After Final" is determined by weighting your "Ave Brfore Final" by 75% and your "Final" exam score by 25%. i will submit official grades tomorrow so please contact me via email if you think there is an error in your grade. i wish you all a great summer break.

thursday, May 15:

i apologize to students in sect 31 who have asked for their grade on the final exam. i had a physical injury last weekend and have been unable to make it to work this week. i will get the grades out when i can ... not before early next week. Sorry.

Friday, May 2:

• Grades before the final exam have been updated. If you have any questions please ask them in class on Monday. Here is a brief explanation:
• "Class Ave" is your class average without dropping any quizzes. 25% of the class average is based on your homework average "Hwave" and 75% is based on your average for all 6 quizzes. Everyone who has 90 or higher for "Class Ave" is exempt from the final exam and will get an A in the class. This is clearly marked and the "Course Grade" column is filled in with an A.
• "Ave Before Final" is 75% of your final grade. The remaining 25% will be based on your final exam score. It is determined by first dropping your lowest quiz score, then computing a quiz average for your highest 5 quizzes. This quiz average will account for 50% of your final grade. Your homework average will account for another 25% of your final grade. Thus 75% of your final class average will come from this column. The percentage in this column is determined by weighting your 5 quiz average twice as much as your homework average (since it counts twice as much toward your final grade).
• Your final exam score will be placed in the "Final" column. Your final grade will be weighted as 75% of "Ave Before Final" and 25% "Final".
• You can easily determine what you need on the final exam to get whatever class percentage that you want to check. I will go over this on Monday. This is it
  {grade needed on final} = ({target grade} - {0.75 x ABF})/0.25
• So for example, if you desire a B in the class (80%), and your "Average Before Final" (ABF) is 76%, then you need ({80} - {0.75 x 76})/0.25 = 92 on the final exam.
• If this is confusing, a simple interpretation is this ... if you score higher on the final exam than "Average Before Final" your class average will go up and if you score lower on the final exam than "Average Before Final" your class average will go down.

Wednesday, April 23:

I updated some of the wording in the instructions for Homework #6. I added some comments and suggestions after answering some student questions about the homework. Please go to the homework link to read these.

Thursday, April 17:

-Grades for quiz 5 are posted. The percentage grade is out of 27. I made one change to the course grades. The percentage for quiz 1 is now out of 27 instead of 29. This makes it consistent with the other quizzes in that 4 of the questions are dropped in determining your percentage.

-The final homework, homework #6, is now available under the homework link. It is due in class on Monday, April 28.

Wednesday, April 9:

After hurricanes, we will move back to chapter 2 to cover radiation. I have placed some supplemental reading about electromagnetic radiation on the assigned reading page. I suggest that you take a look over this material as I will use it during lecture on Friday, April 11 (you may even want to print it and bring it to class).

Tuesday, March 25:

Updated grades are now posted under the grades link. Explanation of the columns: "HWave" is your homework average; "2Qave" is your overall course percentage with your lowest quiz dropped; "3Qave" is your overall course percentage without dropping any quiz.

Friday, March 14:

Homework #5 is now available under the homework link. It is due the day of the next quiz, April 2.

Monday, March 10:

Grades for quiz 3 and homework 3 are now posted under the homework link. Please send me a message if there are any problems.

Wednesday, February 27:

Homework #4 is posted under the homework link. The purpose of this homework is to help you prepare for quiz #3. There are examples of the calculations that you will have to do for the quiz. You should become familar with those calculations. Remember to bring a calculator to the quiz next Wednesday.

Friday, February 22:

Quiz 2 grades are posted under the grades link. The percentage grade is out of 27, even though there were 31 questions.

Thursday, February 21:

All of the maps required to complete homework #3 are available via the homework link. Remember this assignment is due on Monday.

Tuesday, February 12:

Homework #3 is now available from the homework link. Please read over the assignment. I will go over it in class tomorrow.

Friday, February 8:

Grades for quiz 1 are posted. Q1R is the number of correct answers, and Quiz1 is your percentage grade. The percentage grade is out of 29, although there were 31 questions on the quiz.

Wednesday, February 6:

Section 32 (9:00 - 9:50) class will now meet in ILC 140. This room is directly across from ILC 150. Both sections of the class are now in the same room.

Monday, January 28:

Grades for homework #1 have been posted. Please make sure you can find your webname. The assignment was nominally worth 10 points. A 9 means that I received your homework late. The zeros at the bottom of the list indicate students who are registered for the course, but did not turn in homework #1. If you are taking the class, you should submit a HW1 so that you will be able to view your grades online.

Thursday, January 24:

Homework #2 is available to view via the homework link. I will go over the assignment in class next Monday.

Wednesday, January 16:

Homework #1 (Class Registration) is available under the homework link. It is due Friday, January 25.

Wednesday, January 16:

Welcome to NATS 101, Sections 31 and 32. Periodically check this area for announcements.

Course Description:

An introduction to the science of weather processes and climate. Topics covered include (time permitting) reading and interpreting weather maps and other weather data, atmospheric composition, static vertical structure, wind systems and dynamics, genesis of fronts and cyclones, weather prediction, evaporation and condensation, cloud formation, atmospheric stability, formation of severe weather, thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, radiation, energy balance, seasonal changes, greenhouse effect, satellite-derived information, temperature controls, climate, climate controls, climate change, and global warming. The fundamental importance of physics, chemistry, and mathematics to atmospheric science will be stressed.

Instructor:

Professor Dale Ward
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
Office: Physics and Atmospheric Sciences (PAS) Building, Room 566D.
Email: ward@atmo.arizona.edu(Recommended way to contact me)