WXP
Resource Reference

Resource: stat_prior

Resource stat_prior
Overview Specifies the station priority to use in filtering stations on the plot
Command Line -pr=prior
Environment Variable wxpprior
Possible Values
Default Value Plot size dependent

This resource is used to specifically set the station priority. Otherwise the station priority is set based on the size of the domain.

Each station in the city database is prioritized. The highest priority (0) represents the largest cities such as Chicago O'Hare and Los Angeles International. An effort has been made to keep these stations evenly spaced to provide the best plots. Priority 1, 2, 3 and 4 stations fill in the gaps between the stations of higher priority. Priority 5 stations are near other reporting stations and priority 6 are within large cities such as Chicago's Midway airport.

Priority Description Station Spacing Domain Size
0 Major cities ~1000 km >100
1 Major cities ~500 km >50
2 Minor cities ~250 km >25
3 Small cities ~125 km >12.5
4 Small cities/towns ~65 km >6.5
5 Stations nearby other higher priority stations ~32 km >3.2
6 Stations within cities with higher priority station ~16 km >1.6
7 Stations that too close to other stations to plot   <1.6
8 Non-prioritized stations    
9 Retired stations    

Automated priorities

For plotting, only the highest priority stations get plotted depending on the size of the domain. As the domain size decreases, the program will automatically include more stations, lowering the priority. The domain size is computed from the plot domain as:

domain_size =(ny-1)*dy

The priority associated with the computed domain size is listed in the table above.

Relative priorities

You can specify a relative priority that is based on the automatic priority computed from the domain size. By using "+" or "-" on the priority, it will modify the automated priority either higher or lower, respectively. For example, the domain size is computed at 15. The automatic priority is 3. If the station priority is "+1", the new automatic priority will be 4. Now if the plot size changes, the priority will always be one more than the computed automatic priority.


Last updated November 2013