ATMO 203:  WEATHER FORECASTING LAB

FALL, 2007

 

Instructor:            James Tobin

                              Room 1012B, O&M Building

                              jtobin@tamu.edu

                              845-7665

 

Office Hours:       Wednesday, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm,

                              Thursday, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm,

                              or by appointment

 

Class Meets:        Section 501:  MW 10:20 am – 11:10 am                            All in

                              Section 502:  MW 11:30 am – 12:20 pm                            Room 1107

                              Section 503:  TR 9:50 am – 10:40 am                                 O&M Bldg.

 

Prerequisites:       Prior or concurrent enrollment in ATMO 201 is assumed.

 

Course Website:  http://www.met.tamu.edu/class/ATMO203

 

Textbook:             There is no required text for this class.  However, the ATMO 201 textbook, Understanding Weather and Climate (4th ed.) by Aguado and Burt, will be a useful reference.

 

Purpose of ATMO 203:

The purpose of this course is to give atmospheric science majors and interested non-majors a hands-on introduction to short range weather forecasting and weather analysis and to reinforce selected concepts from ATMO 201 as they pertain to weather forecasting.  Students will be challenged to explain basic weather principles and apply them to forecasting.  Critical thinking and effective communication skills will be stressed as these are important skills to a professional working in the field of operational meteorology.

 

Grading Policy:

Your course grade will be determined as follows:

 

            40% Labs

            25% Quizzes

            25% Forecasting

            10% Class Participation

 

A standard grading scale of 90-100 is an A, 80-89 is a B, 70-79 is a C, 60-69 is a D, and 0-59 is an F will be used.  I reserve the right to alter this slightly at the end of the semester so long as it is in the students’ favor.  The potential for extra credit is built into the forecasting part of your grade and extra credit questions may appear on some labs and quizzes.  Additional opportunities for extra credit will NOT be offered upon request.

 

Lab Assignments:

Eight to ten labs will be assigned throughout the course of the semester based on the contents of the online tutorials, class handouts, and/or short in-class lectures.  Unless otherwise stated, students will be allowed to complete most labs in groups of no more than three students (labs to be completed individually will be few and clearly marked).  Students choosing to work in a group must submit one lab for the entire group with each group member’s name on it, and each group member will receive the same grade.  Students need not work with the same group members throughout the semester and are in fact encouraged to change up their groups in order to meet more of their peers.  Note:  Students who are excessively late or absent on a day when an appreciable amount of class time is devoted to working on a lab may, at the instructor’s discretion, be required to complete that lab individually.

 

Quizzes:

Since this is a laboratory class there will be no major exams.  There will, however, be five quizzes tentatively given on the dates indicated on the syllabus.  These quiz dates are subject to change; if they do you will be notified in class no less than one week prior to the scheduled quiz date.  Quizzes 1-4 will only cover recent material but the final quiz will be comprehensive.  All quizzes will be returned the following class period.

 

Make-up quizzes will ONLY be given for quizzes missed due to university excused absences and NO make-up quizzes will be given once the quiz has been returned to the class.  If you miss a quiz for any reason other than a university excused absence you will receive a zero on that quiz. 

 

If you know you will miss a quiz due to a university excused absence you should notify the instructor as soon as possible and make arrangements to take the quiz before the scheduled quiz date if at all possible.  If you have a university excused absence and are unable to make up the quiz before it is returned to the class, your grade on the final quiz will also be assigned to the missed quiz.  Each student’s lowest quiz grade (including a zero for an unexcused missed quiz) will be dropped and replaced with their score from the final quiz unless their lowest score is on the final quiz.

 

Forecasting:

The forecasting grade consists of three components:  participation in a national forecasting contest, submission of forecasting journal entries, and a weather briefing given in front of the class. 

 

The forecasting contest we will be participating in is the Weather Challenge (http://wxchallenge.com) run by the University of Oklahoma.  For this contest students will make 24-hour forecasts (from 0600 UTC to 0600 UTC) of maximum and minimum temperature, maximum sustained wind speed, and precipitation for a city that will change every two weeks.  These forecasts must be entered by 0000 UTC every Monday-Thursday for the following day.  Late forecast submissions will not be accepted; we have no control over this.  The procedures and grading system for the forecasting contest will be discussed in detail as the start of the contest nears.  Participation in this contest is 40% of your total forecasting grade (10% of your total overall grade in this course).


Once per forecast period (every two weeks) you will be required to turn in a 2 page typed (double-spaced) summary of two consecutive days’ forecasts you made and your thoughts supporting those forecasts, including any pertinent forecasting techniques covered in lab.  You should discuss your forecasts’ strengths and weaknesses, including what caused any errors in your forecast.  The first couple of these will be graded leniently and expectations will increase as you learn more forecasting techniques as the semester goes on.  Spelling and grammar will not have a substantial impact on your journal grades but blatant errors may be penalized slightly.  Journal submissions are 40% of your total forecasting grade (10% of your total overall grade in this course).

 

Each student will also be called upon (in a group of 2 or 3) to present a weekly forecast briefing to the class.  These briefings should include an overview of significant weather affecting the continental U.S. with some attention also given to College Station and the Weather Challenge forecast city for that week.  The instructor will give at least two sample briefings before student briefings begin.  Unlike lab groups, forecast briefing groups will be assigned and all group members will receive the same grade.  Your briefing is 20% of your total forecasting grade (10% of your total overall grade in this course).

 

Attendance and Participation:

Students are expected to attend class regularly and actively participate in group discussions, group work, and class lectures.  In order to be adequately prepared to participate in class students are also expected to have reviewed the assigned online tutorials for each class session prior to coming to class.  The primary metric used to determine this part of your grade will be several “two-minute quizzes” that I may give unannounced at the start of any class period.  These simple (if you’ve reviewed the assigned online tutorial) one-question quizzes will give me an idea of who is in class on time as well as who has reviewed the material ahead of time.  Students who demonstrate exemplary participation in class may also be rewarded while students who are excessively late, disruptive, or frequently absent may be penalized.  I will not take attendance on a daily basis and there is no set-in-stone attendance policy for this course.

 

Late Policy:

All labs and journals will be due at 3 pm on the stated due date.  The penalty for late submissions without a university approved excuse or prior instructor approval is 10% per day, Monday through Thursday (Friday through Sunday are free), and university approved excuses do not count on group labs unless every member of the group happens to have a university approved excuse.  Because the labs and forecasting journals are important learning tools the late penalty is capped at 50%, so there is always some value to completing an excessively late assignment.  However, no assignments will be accepted for any credit after FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30 at 3:00 pm.  As stated above in the forecasting section, late forecasts for the Weather Challenge forecasting contest will not be accepted for any reason.

 

Academic Dishonesty and Lab Assignments:

Labs are intended to be completed either individually or in small groups for a reason.  While you are encouraged to discuss labs and ask questions of your fellow students, the work on your submitted paper should reflect your (or your group’s) understanding of the material.  Do not simply copy answers from a classmate if you do not understand the material because this does not in any way further your education and more importantly this is considered an act of academic dishonesty.  The first time I believe a student has committed an act of academic dishonesty on a lab assignment I will penalize the offense myself (and both the student who copied and the student who provided the answers will be penalized).  Any additional act of academic dishonesty by the same student or any student who wishes to challenge my decision regarding their first act of academic dishonesty will be referred to the Aggie Honor Council where, if convicted of academic dishonesty, they will receive an F* for the course.  See the Plagiarism and Honor Code statements for more information.

 

Accommodations Statement: 

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Department of Student Life, Services for Students with Disabilities in Room B-118 of the Cain Building. The phone number is 845-1637.

 

Plagiarism Statement: 

As commonly defined, plagiarism consists of passing off as one's own the ideas, words, writings, etc., which belong to another.  In accordance with this definition, you are committing plagiarism if you copy the work of another person and turn it in as your own, even if you should have the permission of that person.  Plagiarism is one of the worst academic sins, for the plagiarist destroys the trust among colleagues without which research cannot be safely communicated.  For questions regarding plagiarism, please consult the latest issue of the Texas A&M University Student Rules  (http://student-rules.tamu.edu/) under the section "Scholastic Dishonesty.”

 

The Honor Code:

 The Honor Code, based on the long-standing affirmation that “An Aggie does not lie, cheat or steal or tolerate those who do,” is fundamental to the value of the Texas A&M experience. Anyone who violates the University rules on academic honesty will receive an “F*” for the course and additional sanctions as described in University regulations (http://www.tamu.edu/aggiehonor).

 

Copyright Statement: 

The materials used in this course are copyrighted. These materials include but are not limited to syllabi, quizzes, lab problems, in-class materials, review sheets, and additional problem sets.  Because these materials are copyrighted, you do not have the right to copy the handouts, unless permission is expressly granted.