Atmospheric and Climate Sciences
Extreme
Weather
EAPS faculty and students use observations and numerical modeling to better understand the physics, predictability and impacts of extreme weather systems, including thunderstorms, tornadoes, and tropical cyclones, and their variability within the climate system.
Climate
Dynamics
The fundamental physics and processes of the regional and large-scale climate system and its variability (such as monsoons, El Niño, and the jet stream), and intraseasonal variability are topics of research by our faculty and students.
Surface-ATMS Interactions
Select EAPS faculty and students study the exchange of energy and matter between the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface, including sea, land, and vegetation.
Atmospheric Science News
Forecast to field: Purdue class turns storms into a living laboratory
09-10-2025
The Students of Purdue Observing Tornadic Thunderstorms for Research (SPOTTR) course, officially listed as EAPS 43500: Severe Storms Field Work, takes students beyond the classroom and into the Great Plains for a week of hands-on experience with severe weather. SPOTTR blends fieldwork with active learning, career exploration, and the use of professional meteorological instruments, giving students the skills to forecast, track, and study storms.
Moisture in the atmosphere causes extreme weather to last longer
08-25-2025
Earth — Moisture isn’t just a background player in the atmosphere. New research shows it can make one kind of atmospheric block dig in and linger while weakening another. The research was led by Zhaoyu Liu, a Ph.D. student in EAPS. Lei Wang, an assistant professor who conceived the idea and served as the corresponding author.
Traffic Science - The connection between atmospheric blocking and real traffic jams
08-01-2025
BBC — Assistant Professor Lei Wang in EAPS recently appeared on the BBC talking about the connection between his research on atmospheric blocking and real traffic jams. His portion of the interview is about 24 minutes in.
Midwest states east of 'tornado alley' are bearing the brunt of severe storm season.
07-01-2025
NPR — Destructive tornadoes have hit states such as Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana this season as activity shifts east. Meanwhile, scientists say dry and hot weather in the Great Plains brought on by climate change could be slowing the number of tornadoes there. EAPS professor Dan Chavas was cited in this article.
In 2025, Tornado Alley has become almost everything east of the Rockies − and it’s been a violent year
05-23-2025
The Conversation — The U.S. has had more reported tornadoes than normal – over 960 as of May 22, according to the National Weather Service’s preliminary count. That’s well above the national average of around 660 tornadoes reported by that point over the past 15 years, and it’s similar to 2024 – the second-most active year over that same period. This article was written by EAPS's own Dr. Dan Chavas.