University of Oklahoma
College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences
School of Meteorology

METR 4403/5403
Application of Meteorological Theory to Severe Thunderstorm Forecasting

Spring 2023
Course Meeting Times  : Monday, Wednesday 10:00-11:15am

Location: NWC 1350

Instructor: Dr. Ming Xue
Office: NWC 2502
Email: mxue@ou.edu
Personal Website: http://twister.ou.edu
Office Hours: 2 - 3 pm Monday, 1-2pm Thursday or by appointment.

Logistics for office hours of Dr. Xue: Office hours will generally be in person in Ming Xue's office NWC 2502, but if needed Zoom session can be arranged using the following link:


Send me an email before hand in that case. 

SPC Instructors: Andrew Moore, Andrew Lyons, and Harry Weinman
Emails: andrew.moore@noaa.gov, andrew.lyons@noaa.gov, and harry.weinman@noaa.gov
Office hours: by appointment 

We will use Canvas for posting assignments, grades and other functions

Mode of class
Classes will be held in-person in NWC 1350. Course materials, including additional readings and videos, will be posted at the class website or on canvas. Prerecorded lecture videos will be used in lieu of holding make-up classes, as needed. If you are not able to attend a regular in-person class period because you are sick or because of other legitimate reasons, you will be able to attend virtually. If you cannot attend a regular in-person class period, please contact me ahead of time to let me know, and obtain the Zoom link. The two midterm exams and final exam will be held in-person in NWC 1350, so everyone should plan to attend in person on these days. 

COVID-19 information: The latest information on university policies related to COVID-19 is available here at https://www.ou.edu/together/campus-protocols. Please consult the site for any update. Masking is welcome but not required at this time. 

Jan 18: Introduction and Ingradients for Severe Storms

Jan 23: Parcel Theory and Skew-T Diagram

Jan 25: Upper Air and Surface Map Analysis

Jan 30: Skew-T Diagram and Change of Lapse Rate

Feb 1: Quasi-Geostrophic Omega Equation

Feb 6: Quasi-Geostrophic Height Tendency Equation, Frontogenesis, Jet Streak

Feb 8: Severe Weather Ingradients - More details and applications

Feb 13: Vertical wind shear

Feb 15: Hodograph-1

Feb 20: Hodograph-2

Feb 22: Convective Modes

Feb 27: MCS Forecasting

Mar 1: Forecast Decision

Mar 6, Exam 1 Review

Mar 6 Evening Review Session

Mar 20 Forecast Excercise: Blast From The Past

Mar 22 Vorticity Equations

Mar 27 Pressure Perturbation Equations

Mar 29 Tornado Climatology (Andrew Moore)

Apil 3. Tornadogenesis (by Kelton Halbert)

Apil 5. TC Tornadoes (by Harry Weinman)

Apil 10. Tornado Parameters (by Andrew Moore)

Apil 17. Fire weather forecasting (by Andrew Lyons)

Apil 19. Review for Exam 2

Apil 26, Real time forecast excercise-1

May 1, Use of CAMS for severe weathere forecasting

May 3, Forecast excercise-2

Textbooks:

None required. 

Recommended: Markowski, P. and Y. Richardson: Mesoscale Meteorology in Midlatitudes. Wiley-Blackwell, 430pp

Web Resources:

A video lecture series created for this class is available online at the following website: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/spcousom/. These videos contain nearly all of the material covered in this course and will serve as a valuable student resource.