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Individual Course

Backyard Meteorology: The Science of Weather

Course Length

6 weeks

3-5 hours a week

Featuring faculty from:

Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences LogoHarvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences

Enroll as Individual

Certificate Price:

$ 149

Enroll on edX

Enroll as Individual

Certificate Price:

$ 149

Enroll on edX

This course explores the science behind weather systems by teaching the skills needed to make a forecast without using instruments or computer models.

The weather forecasts we see every day are based an army of meteorological sensing networks and intensive computer modeling. Before the rise of these technologies, forecasts were made by understanding cloud formations and wind directions.

This course will explore the science behind weather systems by teaching the observational skills needed to make a forecast without using instruments or computer models. We’ll discuss the physical processes driving weather and the global forces that shape global climate systems. Finally, we will examine the limits of prediction in both human observations and computer models.

Can the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? Take this course to find out!

Self-Guided

edX

Learning Outcome

Understand the role of air, water, and wind in weather systems

Learning Outcome

Learn how to estimate local wind speed and direction

Learning Outcome

Learn how to interpret data so you can predict the next day’s weather

  • Learn from Harvard faculty
  • Do it on your own time
  • Get a certificate, add it to your resume
  • Be part of the Harvard Community
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Faculty

Your Instructor

John Huth

John Huth is the Donner Professor of Science in the Physics Department at Harvard. His main research pursuit is experimental particle physics, and he is a member of a large experimental collaboration that helped to build and run a particle detector called ATLAS, at an accelerator called the Large Hadron Collider, at the European Center for Nuclear Research(CERN.)

An example HarvardX certificate

Ways to take this course

Audit or Pursue a Verified Certificate

A Verified Certificate costs $149 and provides unlimited access to full course materials, activities, tests, and forums. At the end of the course, learners who earn a passing grade can receive a certificate.

⁠Alternatively, learners can Audit the course for free and have access to select course material, activities, tests, and forums. Please note that this track does not offer a certificate for learners who earn a passing grade.

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