meteoplot

Sections

• NAME
• SYNOPSIS
• PARAMETERS
• DESCRIPTION
• EXAMPLES
• FILES
• SEE ALSO

NAME

meteoplot - Surface and MOS meteogram plotting

SYNOPSIS

meteoplot [parameters...] filename

PARAMETERS

DESCRIPTION

This program plots a time series of surface data on a meteogram. The input to the program is either a surface converted file produced by either the prog:sfcdec program or MOS data. Then, based on a variable selected by the user, a plot is generated.

Surface Data Meteogram

The surface data meteogram will plot a time series of data. The number of hours is based on the resrc:num_hour resource. The default is 24 hours but up to 121 times (5 days hourly) can be specified.

The programs needs three pieces of information. First, it needs the input file. This is the latest surface converted file unless otherwise specified. The user may specify a different name using the resrc:current or resrc:filename resource. The input name convention is derived from the sfc_cvt in file tag but may be altered with the resrc:in_file resource.

Second, it needs the station to plot data for. This is done by specifying a ICAO station identifier with the resrc:identifier resource.

Finally, it needs to variable or set of variables to plot. If none is specified, a temperature plot will be displayede the resrc:variable to specify another variable. The program uses the meteoplot.var file to specify more complex plots. Here is a list of the base parameters that can be displayed:

These parameters can be accessed by name if they have not been redefined in the meteoplot.var file. Otherwise, prepending a "+" to the variable name will guarantee these variables will appear.

The are two composite plots defined in the meteoplot.var file.

Multiple parameters can be plotted in the same window. To do this, specify variables separated by commas. The plots are stacked from top to bottom in the window. If a variable is a group "{var1,var2}", both variables will plot in the same graph. The vertical size of the plot in a standard window is about 0.65. Value output is allotted .02 and plot are .15. The "sz=" parameter can be used to size a plot.

Standard variable processing is done. So a variable can be formatted using parameters in brackets []. The first parameter in the brackets is the output unit. The following parameters are formatting parameters. Here are some possible parameters:

For the "all" data plot, here are the various plots:

• temp - temperature and dewpoint chart. This shows temperature as the top line and dewpoint as the bottom line in blue.
• maxt - maximum temperature. The maximum temperatures are plotted below the chart at specific reporting times. These are typically 6 hour values but can be 24 hour values depending on local time.
• mint - minimum temperature. The minimum temperatures are plotted below the chart at specific reporting times. These are typically 6 hour values but can be 24 hour values depending on local time.
• wx - present weather data. This shows the present weather plotted as a weather symbol.
• snwdp - snow depth. This shows reported snow depth in inches.
• prec - precipitation. This shows precipitation totals in inches. The values are 24 hour totals generally at 12Z, 6 hour totals at 0Z, 6Z and 18Z, 3 hour totals elsewhere.
• vis - visibility. This shows the horizontal visibility in miles.
• wgst - wind gusts. This reports wind gusts in knots if reported.
• wind - winds and cloud cover. This plots the standard wind barb and cloud cover symbol. Up is north.
• clds - Cloud chart showing each cloud layer on a logarithmic height scales. See the "cplot" type above for more information.
• cldcl - cloud ceiling. Cloud ceiling in 100s of feet.
• pralt - pressure chart. This chart plots sea level pressure (or altimeter setting if pressure not reported) in millibars.
• time: This is the report hour in universal time. The actual time range is displayed above the plot.

These types of composite plots are specified in the "meteoplot.var" file. For example, the "all" variable is:

all    All_Data              1 temp {temp,dewp[,co=cyan]} [F  ,plot,sz=.20],\
	                       maxt             [F],\
                               mint             [F],\
                               wx               [   ,wx,co=yellow],\
                               snwdp            [in],\
                               prec             [in,%.2f],\
                               vis              [mi],\
                               wgst             [knt],\
                               wind { \
                                 wind           [knt,cbarb],\
                                 cldcv          [%  ,cloud]}[,sz=.05,co=white],\
                               clds             [,cplot,sz=.14],\
                               cldcl            [],\
                               pralt            [mb ,plot,sz=.14]

Once the variable is selected, the program will open and search through the set of hourly files to get all the data for the time series plot. A table of information for the station over the requested hours will print:

Plotting for: 05Z 19 NOV 2013
Surface data for: KMCI
ID     TIME   T  TD  RH DIR SPD GST ALT SLP VIS CIL  COV WX  MAX MIN  PR6 PR24 SC
KMCI   0453   7   0  60 290   6     006 178  10      CLR
KMCI   0553   7   1  65 310   6     008 184  10      CLR      19   7
KMCI   0653   6   1  70 310   5     008 185  10      CLR
KMCI   0753   4   0  73 300   6     009 188  10      CLR
KMCI   0853   3  -1  78 320   5     010 192  10      CLR
KMCI   0953   3  -1  78 340   5     009 189  10      CLR
KMCI   1053   2  -1  81 260   4     011 199  10      CLR
KMCI   1153   2  -1  84 260   8     017 219  10      CLR       7  -1
KMCI   1253   1  -1  85 250   8     021 234  10      CLR
KMCI   1353   2  -1  84 240   5     024 244  10      CLR
KMCI   1453   5   0  70 270   6     027 253  10      CLR
KMCI   1553   7   0  60 290   5     029 260  10      CLR
KMCI   1653   9  -1  48 270   3     029 259  10      CLR
KMCI   1753  11  -2  39 310   8     028 254  10      CLR      11   1
KMCI   1853  13  -3  33 280   7     026 248  10 250  FEW
KMCI   1953  13  -5  28 270   8  14 025 244  10 250  FEW
KMCI   2053  14  -6  25 270   5     023 238  10 250  FEW
KMCI   2153  13  -5  28 280   3     022 236  10 250  FEW
KMCI   2253  11  -4  33   0   0     023 240  10 250  FEW
KMCI   2353   9  -6  35   0   0     023 242  10 250  FEW      14   9
KMCI   0053   8  -5  40 170   6     024 244  10      CLR
KMCI   0153   4  -4  55 170   6     024 247  10      CLR
KMCI   0253   4  -4  53 140   6     025 247  10      CLR
KMCI   0353   3  -4  57 150   6     025 245  10      CLR
KMCI   0453   2  -4  64 160   7     025 245  10      CLR

The program will open the graphics window and plot the meteogram. Each plot will have a label to the left of the data. If the plot has a plot type of "plot", the label will be rotated counterclockwise. The times for each report will be on the horizontal axis and the overall time range will be at the top right.

MOS Data Meteogram

The MOS data meteogram will plot a time series of forecast data. To turn on the MOS feature, use the resrc:model resource. There are three possible MOS models that can be used:

• nam - MOS data from the NAM model. This provides data every 3 hour out to 72.
• lamp - LAMP MOS data from the GFS model. This provides hourly data out to 24 hours.
• gfs - MOS data from the GFS model. This provides data every 3 hour out to 72 hours.

The processing proceeds much like the surface meteogram. A file, identifier and a variable must be specified. The program then searches the MOS data for the requested stations data and parses it into data that resembles surface data. The processing then is identical to surface data. The table output is similar:

NAM MOS MOS data for: KMCI
ID     TIME   T  TD  RH DIR SPD GST ALT SLP VIS CIL  COV WX  MAX MIN  PR6 PR24 SC
KMCI   0600   6   3  86 120   6               7 100  OVC
KMCI   0900   6   4  89 130   5               7  50  OVC
KMCI   1200   5   4  93 110   5               7 100  OVC
KMCI   1500   8   4  79 360   5               5  25  OVC -RA
KMCI   1800   9   3  66 360  10               5   7  OVC -RA              1
KMCI   2100   8   2  65  10  11               3   3  OVC -RA
KMCI   0000   4  -1  70 360  14               3   3  OVC -RA    10        4
KMCI   0300   1  -3  72 360  15               5   7  OVC BR
KMCI   0600   0  -4  72 350  14               5   3  OVC BR
KMCI   0900  -1  -5  75 350  14               5   7  OVC -SN
KMCI   1200  -2  -6  75 360  11               5  15  OVC -SN        -3    1
KMCI   1500  -3  -7  75 360  12               3   7  OVC -SN
KMCI   1800  -1  -6  66 360  11               5   7  OVC -SN              1
KMCI   2100   1  -6  61  10  11               7  50  OVC
KMCI   0000  -1  -7  66 350   7               7 250  BKN         2
KMCI   0300  -2  -7  69 350   6               7      CLR
KMCI   0600  -4  -8  74  10   5               7      CLR
KMCI   0900  -5  -9  74 340   6               7 250  SCT
KMCI   1200  -6 -10  74 360   8               7 250  SCT            -7
KMCI   1800  -2 -10  53  10  11               7 100  OVC
KMCI   0000  -3 -12  52 360   9               7 250  OVC         0

The plot is then produced based on the variable specified.

EXAMPLES

• meteoplot -id=KMCI -va=all

  This plots a composite 24 hour meteogram for KMCI.

• meteoplot -id=KMCI -nh=-361,3 -va=all

  This creates a 15 day meteogram with data every 3 hours.

• meteoplot -mo=nam -id=KMCI -va=all

  This plots a 72 hour NAM MOS forecast meteogram for KMCI.

• meteoplot -id=KMCI -va=Temp{temp,dewp}[,plot],temp,rhum[,plot],wspd[,plot]

  This plots temperature, dewpoint on the same chart, text temperature below that, a plot of relative humidity and a plot of wind speed.

FILES

• meteoplot.var - variable menu and definitions

SEE ALSO

Last updated November 2013