Introduction to Meteorology (GES 241 / GEG 241 / GES 541)
CRN: 3015 / 3231 / 2855
Monday 4:30 p.m. - 7:10 p.m.
Science Building 356
Professor: Dr. Jude S. Sabato
e-mail: sabatojs@buffalostate.edu
web: http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/sabatojs
Office Hours (SCIE 266):
Tuesday / Thursday 1:00 P.M. - 2:00 P.M.
Tuesday 4:30 P.M. - 6:00 P.M.
Wednesday 10:00 A.M. - 11:00 A.M.
Textbook: Meteorology: Understanding the Atmosphere by Ackerman and Knox
Lab workbook: Weather and Climate Excercises (w/ CD) by Carbone
Course Outline:
Week
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Date
8/27
9/3
9/10
9/17
9/24
10/1
10/8
10/15
10/22
10/29
11/5
11/12
11/19
11/26
12/3
12/10-12/13
Topics from
Chapter 1
Labor Day
Chapter 2
Chapters 2 and 3
Chapter 3
Chapters 3 and 4
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 / Lab 5 / review
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Veterans Day
theory of midlatitude weather
numerical weather prediction
global climate dynamics
CEP Week
Course Elements
Quiz 1
Carbone Appendix A, B due
Carbone Lab 1 due
Carbone Lab 3 due / Quiz 2
Carbone Lab 4 due
Carbone Lab 5 due / Exam 1
Quiz 3
Carbone Lab 6 due
Quiz 4
Carbone Lab 8 due
Exam 2: 12/10 4:30 p.m.
In Class
lecture
NO CLASS
lecture / Quiz 1
lecture
lecture
lecture / Quiz 2
lecture
lecture / lab / review
MIDTERM EXAM
lecture
lecture / Quiz 3
NO CLASS
lecture
lecture / Quiz 4
lecture
FINAL EXAM
Course Elements:
• 7 labs, 4 quizzes and 2 exams
The second and final exam will be taken during the scheduled CEP session and is NOT cumulative. Exams
and quizzes will be multiple choice/true-false/fill-in-the-blank. On exams, the student will also be expected
to complete short answer questions / calculations. As a rule, there are no make-ups for exams/quizzes and
late homeworks will not be accepted; exceptions will be handled on an individual basis.
Grading Policy:
Each question (on a homework, quiz, test, etc.) is assigned a point value according to difficulty and the
amount of work required to complete it. Each course element (homework, quiz, test, etc.) will then automatically be weighted relative to the others by the number of points available. For example, suppose
one each of a test, a quiz and a homework have been assigned and the available points are broken down as
follows:
Test 63 points
Homework 18 points
Quiz 9 points
Here the test carries 7 times the weight of the quiz, which in turn carries half the weight of the homework.
The total score of the student will be assessed and graded, first without a curve then with a curve. No
student grade will be lowered by the curve.
The following are tables of raw scores and the corresponding grades with (left table) and without (right table)
a hypothetical curve. In the example above, there are 90 total points available. Suppose the hypothetical
total scores of all the students have a mean of 60 and a standard deviation of 15.
raw score
< 54
54 - 62
63 - 66
67 - 70
71
72 - 75
76 - 79
80
81 - 84
≥ 85
percentage
<60%
60% - 69%
70% - 73%
74% - 77%
78% - 79%
80% - 83%
84% - 87%
88% - 89%
90% - 93%
≥94%
raw grade
F
D
CC
C+
BB
B+
AA
raw score
< 30
31-45
46 - 55
56 - 65
66 - 72
73 - 75
76 - 79
80
81 - 84
85 - 90
percentage
<33%
33% - 50%
51% - 61%
62% - 72%
73% - 79%
80% - 83%
84% - 87%
88% - 89%
90% - 93%
≥94%
curved grade
F
D
CC
C+
BB
B+
AA
In this example, some hypothetical student grades are tabulated below
quiz
homework
test
total
percentage
available
9
18
63
90
100%
student
student
student
student
student
8
0
2
5
7
17
0
3
12
15
62
63
30
50
53
87
63
35
67
75
96.6%
70%
38.8%
74.4%
83.3%
1
2
3
4
5
raw grade
curved grade
A
CF
C
B-
A
C
D
C+
B-