UBC  ATSC 201 - Meteorology of Storms
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Week 2 8 - 14 Sep 2025
Monday (D1) Finish Homework (exercises and readings) from previous week.
Be sure your name, student number, and HW# are at top of every page.
Deadline:  Submit a pdf of your homework exercises any time or date BEFORE the start of class, 2 pm Monday Pacific Time,
Morning
Midday
2 PM Pacific Time
 Class:
  1. Don't forget to submit your homework electronically before class starts.
  2. Discussion & interaction on topics from S.Ch1.p14-22.
  3. Monday Tutorial/Demo of advanced techniques using Excel for problem solving & graphing.  (fill down, increment down, absolute vs relative references, graphing, axis changing. e.g.,  S.Ch8.A18).
  4. Thunderstorm slides and movies -- an intro .
 Topics: Basic Thermo & Hydrostatic Relationships, Excel Demo 2, & Thunderstorm Intro.
   Textbook sections 1.6 - 1.9 and 14.1.0 - 14.1.1.
Learning Goals
At the end of this section, you should be able to:
  1. Describe the physical concepts behind the equations of state, hydrostatic, and hypsometric, and be able to use them.
  2. Relate the "iso..." names to the atmospheric processes that they represent.
  3. Explain what the virtual temperature represents, & be able to compute it and use it.
  4. Use Excel confidently for most meteorological numerical problems and graphing.
  5. Describe how thunderstorms look.

Evening Readings:
  • S.Ch14. Sections 14.1.2 - 14.1.3
Warm-up Questions:
Do quiz W02 D2 online on Canvas.
Topic:   Thunderstorm Characteristics , Appearance, Associated Clouds & Cells
    Textbook sections 14.1.2 - 14.1.3.
Learning Goals
At the end of this section, you should be able to:
  1. Visually identify thunderstorm cloud components.
  2. Describe the stages in evolution of a thunderstorm cell.
  3. Explain the forward- and rear-flank downdrafts and their associated regions where horizontal winds converge.
  4. Describe where to look for other cloud features, including but not limited to mammatus, arc cloud, funnel cloud, etc.
Tuesday (D2)
Morning
Midday
Evening
10 PM Pacific Time
 Deadline to finish warm-up Qs.
Wed. (D3) .
Morning
Midday
2 PM Pacific Time Class:
  1. Discussion & interaction on topics from readings (bring your clicker).
  2. Tstorm cells:  YouTube Day 1-25 and Day 1-30,
  3. YouTube videos: 2-10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40
Notes to Instructor:  Bring to class:
- DVD StormWatcher Video

Evening Readings:
  • S.Ch14. Sections 14.1.4.0 , 14.1.4.1 , 14.1.4.3 ,  & the INFO box about Derechos on p494.
Warm-up Questions:
Do quiz W02 D4n online on Canvas.
Topic: Thunderstorm Types, focusing on Basic and Supercell types. Derecho. Storm-chasing tips.
   Textbook sections 14.1.4.0 , 14.1.4.1, 14.1.4.3 including the derecho INFO box on p494.
Learning Goals
At the end of this section, you should be able to:
  1. Compare & contrast basic storms vs. supercell storms.
  2. Explain how different types of basic storms work.
  3. Explain how different types of supercell storms work.
  4. Describe the characteristics and causes of derechos.
  5. Make sound decisions when you chase and photograph severe storms.
Thurs (D4)
Morning
Midday
Evening
10 PM Pacific time
 Deadline to finish warm-up Qs.
Friday (D5) .
Morning
Midday
2 PM Pacific Time Class:
  1. Discussion & interaction on topics from readings (bring your clicker).
  2. Intro to MCSs.
  3. Intro to weather radar.
  4. Video on Approaching the Storm, from The Art of Storm Chasing (Disk 1, Title 2, Ch 6)  12 min.

Evening
End-of-Week Homework Exercises.  
(Due at start of Monday's class.)
Homework 2 (must use a computer spreadsheet [or other computer app such as a python notebook] for all HWs this week and all future weeks)
S.Ch1.  A7g ,  A10h ,  A11g ,  A12g
S.Ch14.(caution: E, not A):   E4c , E11 . For these Chapter 14 questions, consider typing your answers into a word or text document and then saving it as a pdf to submit.  Or, if you are writing your answer on paper,  then please use your scanning app to scan your handwritten papers to submit as a pdf file.

 

Pre-Readings for next Monday's class, on the topic of Weather Radar:
S.Ch8.

- Read the Remote Sensing intro on p219, and
- the weather radar Fundamentals section 8.3.1. 
- On p246 read the one dBZ paragraph containing eq. (8.27).
- Next read the sections 8.3.2.2 - 8.3.3.2 . 
-Finally read the Identification of Storm Characteristics subsection 8.3.3.4.  

Learning Goals
At the end of this section, you should be able to:
  1. Apply topics covered earlier this week to compute number answers & infer their significance.  
  2. Use a computer spreadsheet such as Excel to solve your homework exercises.
Saturday(D6)
.
Sunday (D7)
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Notes: The textbook for this course is Stull, 2017: "Practical Meteorology: An Algebra-based Survey of Atmospheric Science", available for free online, at  https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/books/Practical_Meteorology/ .

The reading and homework assignments use the following abbreviations to indicates various parts of this textbook:

Legend:
Ch = chapter.
A = "Apply" exercises.
p = page number.
S = Stull, 2017:  "Practical Meteorology" book (online).
s = "Synthesize" exercises.
E = "Evaluate & Analyze" exercises.