SA_PARSE

Sections

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

NAME

sa_parse - Surface data display program

SYNOPSIS

sa_parse [parameters...] filename

PARAMETERS

DESCRIPTION

This program displays surface data in a tabular format. The input to the program is either a raw ingested surface data file or a converted surface data file produced by the sacvt program.

The programs starts off by prompting the user for input data file name.  The user may specify the input file either via the command line of through the current resource. The input naming convention is specified by the sfc_dat tag (or sfc_cvt if "cvt" data is requested) but this can be changed with the in_file resource.

Next, the user enters a station identifier. The stations are entered by their 3/4 letter IDs. Once the station is selected, the program prints out surface data.

Text Output

There are 4 formats for surface data output:

• raw - this prints the raw undecoded data (second line will be indented):
  
  KBIV 070242Z AUTO 13006KT 5SM -RA BR SCT015 15/15 A2995 RMK AO2 P0002 TSNO

• pln - this prints a single line of decoded output:

  ID   TIME   T  TD  RH DIR SPD GST ALT SLP VIS CIL COV WX  MAX MIN  PR6 PR24 SC
  KLNP 0240  52  43  71 150   4     002      10     CLR
  K4BK 2347  69  52  54 310  10         114  30     CLR      72  59

• plns - this is a 2 line output of decoded output plus an optional third line for comments:

    ID Tp Time  Vis    PWx   SLPres   T  Td   WD-WS WG  Alt   PT  Max Min
       CHt CCv CHt CCv CHt CCv CHt CCv CHt CCv  L:M:H  Rn3  Rn6 Rn12 Rn24 SC 
  PATL SP 0335  10.0                 64  51  290- 4    29.58
       43 SCT                                    : :
     COMMENT: AO1
  PAEH SP 0335  10.0                 49  43  340- 4    29.66
        6 SCT                                    : :
     COMMENT: AO1                                             

• psyn - this prints out a single line of decoded output setup for synoptic data:

   ID   Cht Cv  Vis   PWx  SLPres   T  Td  WD-WS WG  Te  PT   Rn6 Rn24 SC L:M:H
  KSLC   250 F  15.0       1004.7  68  58 280- 7       

• psimp - this prints out a single line of decoded data more appropriate for general use:

   ID   Temp  Dew  Winds       Press   Clouds   Prec  Weather
          F    F   deg   knt     mb  100ft cov   in
   MGGT   64   63  360 at 14  ------  ---       ---- heavy drizzle
   MGGT   64   63  360 at 14  ------  ---       ---- heavy drizzle
   PAWR   55   46   90 at  3  1024.0  ---       ----
   PASD   46   39   50 at  5  ------  ---       ----

• pfull - this is a multi-line output per station more appropriate for general use:

  Data for: KHOU
  -----------------------------------
  Report time:        0450 Z
  Temperature:          82 F = 27.5 C
  Dewpoint:             78 F = 25.3 C
  Winds:               160 deg at 6 knt
  Altimeter setting:    29.85 in Hg
  Sea level pressure: 1010.8 mb
  Clouds:level 1:   1500 feet few
         level 2:   2500 feet scattered
  Visibility:           10.00 miles
  Heat index:           89.5 F

• pvar - use the variable resource to create the table of station data (see below).

Column headings include:

• ID - Station identifier
• Tp - Type of report (SA,RS,SP)
• Time - Time of the report in GMT
• Vis - Visibility in miles
• PWx - Present weather (RW-F for example)
• SLP/SLPres - Sea level pressure in mb
• T - Temperature in F
• Td - Dewpoint  in F
• DIR/WD - Wind direction
• SPD/WS - Wind speed (separated from direction by a hyphen)
• GST/WG - Gust data (left blank if none reported)
• Alt - Altimeter setting in inches of Hg
• PT - Pressure tendency in standard coded form (310 for example)
• PR6/Rn6 - 3 or 6 hour precipitation in inches (separated from PT by a colon)
• PR24/Rn24 - 24 hour precipitation in inches
• Te - Extreme temperature in F
• Max - maximum temperature in F
• Min - minimum temperature in F
• SC - Snow cover in inches
• CIL/CHt - Cloud ceiling height data
• COV/Cv/CCv - Cloud coverage data for each cloud level as text "SCT" or eighths "1/8"
• L, M, H - Low, middle and high cloud type information (separated by colons) 

Printing using Variable Interface

If the print type is set to pvar, the variable resource is used to determine which variables will be printed in the table.  There is a sa_parse.var file for setting up complicated tables and simplifying program use.  The possible formatting includes the units and output C format (wetblb:F:%.1f).   Also, time can be specified for use with precipitation (anal-6acc::prec::%.2f).   The data is displayed in 7 character wide columns.  The output for "city,temp,dewp,rhum,wetblb:F:%.1f" would look like:

  city   temp   dewp   rhum wetblb
                                 F
KTHV       83     66     57   71.1
KIPT       85     64     50   70.4
KAGC       84     61     45   68.4
KPIT       82     61     49   67.9
KPHL       84     73     70   76.0
KFKL       81     61     51   67.4
KERI       82     65     56   70.2
KAFJ       82     61     48   67.9
KSEG       85     63     48   69.9      
...

Here is a list of the possible variables:

EXAMPLES

   sa_parse -cu=la -id=KIND
   KIND 020756Z 11003KT 9SM CLR 06/06 A3013 RMK AO2 SLP203 T00560056      $  

This displays surface data for KIND.

   sa_parse -cu=la -id=KIND -if=cvt
   ID   TIME   T  TD  RH DIR SPD GST ALT SLP VIS CIL COV WX  MAX MIN  PR6 PR24 SC
   KIND 0756  42  42 100 110   3     013 203   9     CLR 

This displays a user specified list of variables:

   sa_parse -cu=la -if=cvt -id=ST=PA -pa=city,pvar \
      -va=city,temp,dewp,rhum,wetblb:F:%.1f 

     city   temp   dewp   rhum wetblb
                                 F
   KTHV       83     66     57   71.1
   KIPT       85     64     50   70.4
   KAGC       84     61     45   68.4
   KPIT       82     61     49   67.9
   KPHL       84     73     70   76.0
   KFKL       81     61     51   67.4
   KERI       82     65     56   70.2
   KAFJ       82     61     48   67.9
   KSEG       85     63     48   69.9      
   ...

FILES

• sao.cty - the surface station location database file

SEE ALSO

• sacvt - the surface data decoding program