The objective of this course is to provide students with a basic understanding of Colorado’s weather and climate. How the region’s extreme variations in surface topography, vegetation cover, and land use influence weather conditions such as clouds, temperature, winds, precipitation, and soil moisture will be discussed.  The connections and feedbacks between ecosystems such as shortgrass prairies, agriculture, forests (montane, subalpine), alpine tundra, and urban and riparian corridors to local meteorological conditions will be discussed. Without any prior knowledge on the topic, students completing this course will be able to understand and explain Colorado’s highly variable weather and climate.