This course meets Mn Transfer Curriculum Goal Area 3 Natural Sciences - This is an introductory meteorology course designed for non-science majors. This course focuses on understanding the basic concepts of meteorology by empha- sizing observations of the atmosphere and using those observations to explore weather processes in-depth and explain a variety of atmospheric phenomena. This course emphasizes key atmospheric concepts that enable students to understand how science can explain a wide range of regional and local weather events, how it impacts society and their daily lives, and long-term climate connections. This course includes a lab component where students will use real-time and clima- tological data to analyze and predict weather events, climate patterns, and other atmospheric phenomena. Student Learning Outcomes: * Evaluate the risk and societal issues of natural hazards from a natural science perspective. * Employ meteorological and climatological knowledge to analyze a variety of weather phenomena. * Identify practices for communities to mitigate severe weather events and understand the socio-economic impacts of severe weather disasters. * Describe the physical processes that affect and create atmospheric phenomena. * Distinguish the layers of the atmosphere based on temperature and solar radia- tion. * Interpret daily and seasonal temperature cycles in terms of the surface-energy budget and atmospheric stability. * Explain how clouds form and describe the different types of precipitation. * Diagnose synoptic and mesoscale atmospheric conditions that are favorable for severe weather development, using weather observations. * Explain atmospheric forces and global, synoptic, mesoscale, and microscale winds, and how those winds affect the jet stream and pressure systems. * Explain Atmosphere-Ocean circulations and interaction that impact climate systems, including the El-Nino phenomena. * Classify different types air masses and fronts. * Correlate midlatitude cyclone evolution and jet stream interaction to resultant severe weather. * Identify the structure and explain the evolution of midlatitude and tropical cyclones. * Describe the formation and evolution of different types of thunderstorms. * Identify characteristics of thunderstorms and describe the processes that pro- duce lightning, hail, and tornadoes. * Collect and interpret various types of weather data to produce a short-term forecast; be able to communicate potential sources of error and uncertainty through probabilistic forecasting. * Demonstrate the ability to inspect and question the accuracy of weather data/ observations and numerical weather forecasts, to make informed judgments regarding natural hazard mitigation, response, and public policy. * Identify climate zones of the world and describe the natural processes that af- fect global climate and climate changes. Prerequisite(s): ENGL1308 and one of the following: READ0900, READ1308 or ESOL1120, or appropriate placement score. (4 C: 3 lect/pres, 1 lab, 0 other)
- Subject
- EASC
- Type
- course
- Edition
- 2026-2027
- Source
- sctcc.edu