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Major · Physical Sciences

The physics of weather, climate, and the atmosphere above us

Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology applies physics, math, and fluid dynamics to the behavior of the atmosphere — weather forecasting, climate modeling, and severe-storm research. About 530 bachelor’s degrees are awarded annually across 60 colleges. The bachelor’s is the working credential for federal forecasting and many private-sector roles, while research and modeling careers usually require a master’s or PhD.

Schools offering
60
Annual completions
530
Typical degree level
Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$63k

About this major

Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology applies physics, mathematics, and fluid dynamics to the behavior of the atmosphere — its composition, its motion, the storms it produces, and the climate trends it shapes over decades. The CIP definition frames the field as the scientific study of the atmospheric envelope and its effects on terrestrial weather, climate, and environment, with instruction spanning atmospheric chemistry, physics, dynamics, climatology, weather simulation, forecasting, and modeling of phenomena like clouds, storms, and precipitation. In practice, the first two years lean heavily on calculus, differential equations, physics, and introductory programming. The atmospheric core arrives in the upper division — thermodynamics, dynamics, synoptic and mesoscale meteorology, radiation, cloud physics — and many programs operate a real-time forecasting practicum where students issue and defend practice forecasts.

The major rewards students who like quantitative reasoning applied to a system they can observe out the window. You don’t need to come in already obsessed with weather, but the curriculum is mathematically demanding and the students who do best tend to enjoy holding equations, model output, and physical intuition together at the same time. Comfort with code matters more here than it does in many physical sciences — atmospheric data lives in gridded scientific formats and the work of any modern meteorologist involves manipulating that data programmatically.

About 530 bachelor’s degrees are awarded annually across 60 colleges, with strong concentration at programs like Texas A&M (39 completions), Florida State (35), Penn State (32), and Missouri-Columbia (47). Career destinations split between federal employers — the National Weather Service, NOAA, NASA, and the Department of Defense weather services — and a private sector that includes weather-services companies, reinsurance catastrophe modelers, wind-energy forecasters, agricultural-weather firms, and energy-trading desks. The atmospheric and space scientist occupation linked to this major posts a $97,450 median wage with the bachelor’s listed as the typical entry credential, which is the data signal that this is a working degree rather than a graduate-school prerequisite.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Natural sciences managers $161k +3.7% Bachelor's degree
Life, physical, and social science technicians, all other $60k +3.5% Associate's degree
Atmospheric, earth, marine, and space sciences teachers, postsecondary $101k +2.6% Doctoral or professional degree
Atmospheric and space scientists $97k +0.7% Bachelor's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$63k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you find yourself comfortable with the second-year physics and math sequence and want a science major where the bachelor’s is a working credential rather than a launch pad for graduate school. The fit is also strong if you’re drawn to a system you can observe directly — weather is one of the few applied physics domains where intuition built from watching the world genuinely helps in the classroom. Federal employment is a real career anchor here, which means students who would value the structure and stability of a National Weather Service or DoD civilian role have a clear path. The major also rewards students who already enjoy writing code or are willing to build that skill, since modern operational and research meteorology runs on gridded scientific data and Python and Fortran toolchains.

Think twice if your primary interest is climate-change research without a strong appetite for the physics core — the climate-modeling lanes that pay well almost always require a master’s or PhD, and the bachelor’s by itself rarely opens those doors. Reconsider broadcast meteorology if you’re uncomfortable with the geographic and salary realities: small-market entry-level on-air work runs $30,000–$45,000, and the path to sustainable compensation requires the AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist credential plus a willingness to climb through media markets. The major is also a poor fit if you’re drawn to weather as a hobby but find sustained mathematical work draining — the second and third years separate the students who enjoy the formalism from those who arrived expecting more qualitative engagement. Finally, the five-year median earnings figure of $62,624 is honest about the early-career picture: federal entry salaries and broadcast small-market salaries pull the median down, and graduates who want to clear that figure quickly typically need either a graduate degree or a private-sector or trading-desk path.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, General

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO 0 47 47
Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX 0 39 39
Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 0 35 35
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA 0 32 32
University at Albany Albany, NY 0 20 20
University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD 0 18 18
North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC 0 18 18
Valparaiso University Valparaiso, IN 0 17 17
University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 0 17 17
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL 0 16 16
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Computer and Information Sciences, General

34,556 completions/yr

Communication Sciences and Disorders, General

4,781 completions/yr

Geology/Earth Science, General

3,815 completions/yr

Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences, Other

564 completions/yr

Astronomy

545 completions/yr

Astrophysics

340 completions/yr

Oceanography, Chemical and Physical

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Meteorology

216 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Atmospheric Sciences majors actually study day-to-day?
Coursework leans on calculus, differential equations, and physics for the first two years, then moves into atmospheric thermodynamics, dynamics, synoptic and mesoscale meteorology, radiation, and cloud physics. You learn to read and interpret model output from numerical weather prediction systems and to write code that processes gridded atmospheric data. Lab and forecasting practicums are common — many programs run a real-time forecasting room where students issue practice forecasts and discuss them on shift. Upper-division electives often branch into climate dynamics, severe-storm research, broadcast meteorology, or radar and remote sensing.
What do Atmospheric Sciences graduates actually do for work after a bachelor’s?
The bachelor’s is a working credential here, which separates this major from astronomy or pure physics. Atmospheric and space scientists post a $97,450 median wage with the bachelor’s listed as the typical entry credential — a real signal that the degree leads directly to the work. The largest single employer of bachelor’s-level meteorologists is the federal government: the National Weather Service hires AMS-coursework-aligned graduates as GS-7/9 forecasters, and the Department of Defense (Air Force Weather, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography) hires both civilian and uniformed meteorologists. Private-sector destinations include weather-services companies (AccuWeather, DTN, IBM Weather Co.), reinsurance catastrophe modeling (Munich Re, Swiss Re), wind-energy forecasting, agriculture, and energy-commodities trading desks.
Do I need a graduate degree to work in atmospheric science?
Not for entry-level operational forecasting, but yes for the higher-paying lanes. The National Weather Service, Air Force Weather, and most private-sector forecasting roles will hire from the bachelor’s if your coursework matches the AMS-aligned curriculum standards. A master’s or PhD is typically required for research positions at NOAA labs (NSSL, GFDL, AOML), NASA, climate-modeling work at universities, senior catastrophe-modeling roles at reinsurers, and any path into postsecondary teaching — atmospheric, earth, marine, and space sciences professors post a $101,390 median but list a doctoral degree as the typical entry credential. The five-year median earnings figure of $62,624 likely reflects entry-level federal and broadcast salaries pulling against later-career private-sector and research wages.
What about broadcast meteorology — is the on-air career still viable?
It is viable, but the economics have shifted. Television-station consolidation has compressed the number of mid-market on-air roles and entry-level small-market salaries typically run $30,000–$45,000. The path to a sustainable broadcast career runs through the AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) credential, which signals that you’re a real meteorologist rather than a presenter, and through small-market reps before climbing to mid- and major-market stations where compensation reaches $150,000+. Many programs (Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Penn State) offer a broadcast track that combines the science core with on-camera coursework. If broadcast is the goal, plan for the credential pipeline and the early-career market geography.
How is AI changing meteorology, and does that affect the major?
Machine-learning weather models — Google’s GraphCast, NVIDIA’s FourCastNet, Microsoft’s Aurora — now match or beat traditional numerical weather prediction in many forecasting benchmarks at a fraction of the compute cost. That shift is real, but it doesn’t eliminate the major. The durable lanes are model interpretation, validation against observations, edge-case judgment during high-impact weather events, and the integration of ML output with physics-based models in operational workflows. The skill premium is moving toward graduates who can write code, work with gridded scientific data, and reason about both atmospheric physics and statistical models — which lines up well with what a strong atmospheric science curriculum already teaches.
How does this major differ from Meteorology (40.0404) and other related codes?
The CIP code 40.0401 covers the general atmospheric sciences and meteorology curriculum — the broad program that includes both forecasting and the broader atmospheric physics, chemistry, and climate components. Meteorology (40.0404, 216 completions nationally) is a more narrowly forecasting-focused code, often the same operational training without the climate-science depth. Sibling codes 40.0402 (Atmospheric Chemistry & Climatology) and 40.0403 (Atmospheric Physics & Dynamics) carve out research-track specializations within the same family. For most students aiming at federal forecasting, broadcast, or private-sector weather work, 40.0401 and 40.0404 are functionally interchangeable — choose by program strength and curriculum fit, not by code. If your interest is climate modeling or atmospheric chemistry research, look for departments that offer the 40.0402/0403 specializations or a strong climate track within the general program.