Welcome!
What causes tornadoes? Where and when are hurricanes most common? What's the difference between sleet and freezing rain? If you like dangerous weather-- or if you're terrified of it and want to learn more about it -- this is the place for you.
General Details
Instructor: Dr. Cody Kirkpatrick (my contact information)
Dates and times of scheduled offerings:
- Fall 2024: Monday & Wednesday, 1:15 - 2:30, Education 1120
- Spring 2025: Tuesday & Thursday, 12:45 - 2:00, Ballantine 310
- Spring 2025: A fully online section taught by Dr. Paul Staten
Office hours, course topics, and expectations: check the Syllabus or its link at the top of the page. (May not always be the most recent syllabus, but the document is similar from semester to semester.)
Enrollment & Wait List Information
For EAS-E 144, I always open up as many seats as the dean's office will allow. If you find that the course is full, please join the wait list -- normally, there will be a few people who switch to other courses right before the semester begins.
Because of work restrictions for the graduate student AIs, it is usually not possible to accomodate "overload" registrations -- so do stay on the wait list as long as you can.
Course Materials
There are no books to buy! One resource we will use is the "JetStream" website, provided by the National Weather Service. For example, check out their page on tornadoes, which will be an assigned reading. In addition to that site, I'll provide numerous handouts and additional readings.
We also use sections of the FAA's "Aviation Weather" book, a free resource that has a lot of really good intro material. Just do a search for "aviation weather handbook" and the PDF will pop up.
You'll want a non-cell-phone calculator for the exams. Bring whatever you want, anything from the $5 Kelley one to a TI-whatever will work.
What are the Course Prerequisites?
There are none. Usually, a majority of the students enrolled are non-science majors. A knowledge of percents and of fractions is expected but that's the most complicated math we'll do.
Current Weather Conditions
We'll look at national and local current weather almost daily during the course. I bet you already know how to interpret these images!
This Website
Please do reach out if you'd like to know more about our course. Our course content will be kept on Canvas once the semester begins.