PHSC 312 Meteorology

Covers various aspects of meteorology, including solar radiation, global circulation, environmental issues, winds, stability, precipitation processes, weather systems, and severe weather. Registration

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

Course Guide

View this course’s outcomes, policies, schedule, and more.*

*The information contained in our Course Guides is provided as a sample. Specific course curriculum and requirements for each course are provided by individual instructors each semester. Students should not use Course Guides to find and complete assignments, class prerequisites, or order books.


Meteorology has long served as a key subject to arouse student’s interest in science, mathematics, and technology. This course will focus on the science behind two attention-grabbing aspects: weather forecasting and extreme weather events. 


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After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences and involve answering open-ended questions on multi-faceted topics. Therefore, the student is required to create a thread in response to the provided prompt for each discussion. Each thread must be at least 350 words and demonstrate course-related knowledge. In addition to the thread, the student is required to reply to two other classmates’ thread. The replies must be at least 100 words each and add substantially to the conversation. All posts must adhere to current APA format.

The student will choose an extreme weather event based on the criteria provided. The student will show how it meets the criteria and produce a bibliographic reference list of at least four sources, two of which are scholarly discussing the meteorology of the event plus at least one substantive news article which discusses the impact or recovery. This paper is to be 1–2 pages in length, excluding title page and references, and follow current APA formatting.

Based on the case selected above, the student will research the meteorology behind the event drawing ties to knowledge gained from this course. The student will examine the impact and recovery efforts looking for factors that are uniquely pertinent to the type of storm. The application will be to provide insights for future Liberty disaster relief efforts. The 1,200–1,800-word paper will be based on the references collected in the identification exercise and follow current APA formatting.

Modern meteorology is graphically-rich with many different types of maps, images, photos, and plots. These interpretive exercise (IE) quizzes ask the student to interpret graphics patterned after the ones shown in the text. Each quiz will cover the Learn material from the assigned Module: Week. Each quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 11-20 multiple-choice and matching questions, and have no time limit.

Each quiz will cover the Learn material from the assigned Module: Week. Each quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 25 multiple-choice, true/false, and essay questions. Quizzes have a 1-hour time limit.


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