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Hello, my name is Eric Snodgrass and I am an instructor here in the Department of Atmospheric Science at UIUC. I received my bachelors of science in 2002 from Western Illinois University and my masters of science in atmospheric sciences from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2006. Currently I am teaching a few introductory courses, ATMS 100, 120 and 201. ATMS 100 is a survey course in meteorology that focuses on giving a practical understanding of meteorological phenomenon and processes to non-majors across campus. ATMS 120 delves into the wild side of weather and in this course we explore hazardous weather like hurricanes, blizzards, ice storms, thunderstorms, tornadoes, lake effect snow, lightning, El Niño, drought and heat waves. The last course I teach, ATMS 201, is the first course that atmospheric science majors take at U of I. This course introduces four main areas of study: thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, radiation and weather forecasting. Each semester I teach a fresh crop of nearly 600 undergraduate students through these courses.
Having lived in Champaign-Urbana since 2002, I have come to love the opportunities a large college town offers. One of my favorite hobbies is ballroom dancing. For a while now, my wife and I have enjoyed lessons at a local popular ballroom. Besides dancing my other interests include watching Illini basketball and football (of course!), working on cars and storm chasing.
My research interests lie in the study of the precipitation characteristics of trade wind cumulus convection over the tropical Atlantic. (See my CV or website for recent publications) During the winter of 2004-2005, I had the privilege of participating the RICO (Rain In Cumulus over the Ocean) field campaign on the islands of Antigua and Barbuda in the eastern Caribbean. Using the NCAR SPOL-Ka research radar, we collected two months of polarmetric radar data with a goal putting the radar derived rainfall characteristics of trade wind cumulus into the perspective of the tropical Atlantic water budget. A second objective of my research was to relate satellite observed trade wind cumulus cloud features (i.e., cloud fraction, cloud height etc.) to their radar observed rainfall characteristics. To accomplish this, high resolution MISR (Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer) data was collocated at the pixel level with SPOL-Ka radar data. Some of our discoveries include statistics on the percent of cloudy area associated with rain, relationships between the brightness and height of the clouds and their precipitation, and the diurnal cycle of the rain rates.
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