Weather and Climate

Covers wind, temperature, clouds, precipitation, storm systems, air pollution, global winds, seasonal changes, and climate variability.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Jonathan Martin4.3/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Jonathan Martin

Multiple-choice exams required detailed knowledge of the textbook, and students noted a lack of lecture slides, review sheets, or feedback on assignments.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain the basic atmospheric science principles that describe weather and climate.

  • Recognize and describe different types of weather, climate observations, and forecast models.

  • Recognize and characterize natural variability of weather and climate.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Not open to students with credit forATM OCN 101

ATMOCN 100 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.40/5 from 131 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 2.7/5 raw quality · 3.0/5 difficulty · 3 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Jonathan Martin

Jonathan Martin taught the course with exams that were trickier than the lectures and lacked provided review sheets. One student reported a significant grading error where class work was incorrectly weighted for most of the semester, causing letter grade changes. Another student noted that the material felt more advanced than a typical introductory level.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 2.71 GPA, 34.8% A/AB (n=89 letter grades); Spring 2025: 2.52 GPA, 21.4% A/AB (n=126 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.69 GPA, 24.3% A/AB (n=111 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Mark Kulie

Mark Kulie provided detailed study guides before every exam, with grading distributed across homework, exams, and small after-lecture assignments. He was described as incredibly passionate and patient, catering presentations to students taking the course for a physical science credit, though one student found his slides a tad confusing.

JONATHAN MARTIN is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARK KULIE is recorded teaching in Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL MORGAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Fall 2009, Fall 2015. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL NOTARO is recorded teaching in Spring 2023, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

STEVEN ACKERMAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Fall 2008, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ZOE BROOKE ZIBTON is recorded teaching in Fall 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1750

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Jonathan Martin

Students described the course as demanding beyond typical 100-level expectations, with exams that were trickier than the lecture material.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 2.52 GPA, 21.4% A/AB (n=126 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.35 GPA, 61.4% A/AB (n=308 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.69 GPA, 24.3% A/AB (n=111 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Jonathan Martin

Multiple-choice exams required detailed knowledge of the textbook, and students noted a lack of lecture slides, review sheets, or feedback on assignments.

Past student reviews · Jonathan Martin

One student reported a significant grading error that incorrectly weighted class work for most of the semester, causing unexpected letter grade changes.

Topics

  • Storm systems, fronts, thunderstorms, and tornadoes
  • Air composition and pollution
  • Global winds, seasonal changes, and climate

Skills

  • Explain basic atmospheric science principles describing weather and climate.
  • Recognize and describe weather types, climate observations, and forecast models.
  • Recognize and characterize natural variability of weather and climate.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.22 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Selected offering source records
ATMOCN 100 · Spring 2027

Weather and Climate

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:640:012718",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN 100",
    "course_uid": "course_abab02ccab293c82043d76e2",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "012718",
    "source_subject_id": "640",
    "title": "Weather and Climate",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "f6eb2a96418f0f9600fb1d3aaa9c7ae30ff550bb06e84504589b3fc6b347607f",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}