New side bar web browser for more weather info or your web page of interest.
Also NWS text warnings and Surface Observations
and Precip & Flood Forecasts.
Traditional area average rainfall is obtained by rainfall gages located in or
near the area of interest and averaging the rain gage amounts using many
methods. If you’re lucky you might
find a rain gage nearby or you would have to install and maintain a network of
rain gages yourself. The tools
presented here will allow you to create point rainfall rates ANYWHERE in the
USA and greatly improve area averaged
amounts and best of all IT’S FREE!!! Update 2/17/10: 'ANYWHERE' is a
bit of an exaggeration. It's more like 70 miles or less from a radar site
in winter without your help and 'greatly improve' is really going out on a limb, but read on...
it's still free.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a fantastic
government agency responsible for the majority of the weather data and alerts in
the United States. Using the publicly available and easily accessible
reflectivity data from one of the WSR-88D class radar systems (NEXRAD), the
tools presented here will show you how to choose a location and set up rainfall
collection for a precise geographical area... or you can just click a location
on the fly willy nilly.
Do you want the truth? You can't handle
the truth.
Hardware--MS Windows 98 or better with display of 24-bit colors...probably
not a deal killer so try it (gdiplus.dll graphics is used and can be downloaded from
Microsoft for free for Windows 2000/98).
Software--For a single point rainfall, see LatLongPixels.exe below. For
area averaged rainfall, GetMapArea version 2.5 or later
is a must for creating the basin boundary, optionally
GetRealtime for automating real time collection, storage, and display of the
basin rainfall. These softwares are available
online for free at www.GetMyRealtime.com.
Image Acquisition--Level III GIF images NOAA Ridge Version 1, 600x550 pixels.
(NOAA Ridge Version 2 PNG higher resolution images 1000x1000 pixels is
reschedluled for operation March (you pick the year) and GetNexrad 2.3 now reads the
Ridge2 Testbed with new higher resolution spacial and dBz products.)
The WSR-88D class radar systems have many acquisition modes for developing data
on atmospheric precipitation. The most commonly used form of radar rainfall energy return
mapping are the Base and Composite Reflectivity, and also the 1-Hour Total
Precipitation. The 1-Hour Total image has had additional processing to
better correlate with actual rainfall for different seasons and areas so they
say, but I would stick with N0R (and now N0Q!!!!) and you will be way ahead in this game, believe
me. We
can use any of
these three images for the processing of localized precipitation information.
There are 2 levels of precision for NEXRAD data but only one for graphic images
in real-time. We
will be using Level 3 products for real-time in the form of downlaoded GIF images
every 5 minutes. Here are the
difference in data precision:
Each of the 360 base scans at 0.5 degree tilt radar beam half power cones is
divided into scan volume bins that each covers 0.6 miles in range and would be
1.2 miles wide and high at the 75 mile mid-range bin and would be scanning at a
mid-beam elevation of 6,600 feet with standard refraction above the radar
elevation. Each of the 550x600 pixels of the radar gif image is about 0.009
degrees of latitude and longitude or about 0.6 miles x 0.5 miles which easily
handles all the Level-3 binary product's spatial resolution. The dBz resolution
is 5 dbz in 16 steps above zero. A great new real-time higher resolution base reflectivity
product is N0Q at
1 degree x 0.6 miles x 0.5 dbz at 1000x1000
pixel png but images are only available on the
new Ridge2 Testbed, skip below here. N0Q sure looks
like Level 2 data to me! YES!!! It's like pulling teeth to get more colors
from them old farts at headquarters.... Actully the 'Lite' images I am starting
to find very useful too in my scanning web browser apps.
The azimuthal resolution is doubled from 1 degree to 0.5 degree, reflectivity
bin gate spacing is dequadrupled from 0.6 miles to 0.16 miles, and
increased Doppler data (wind speed) range from 143 miles to 186 miles. The dBz
resolution is increased 10 fold from 5 dbz to 0.5 dbz. As my inside
contact Tim says, Not bad for the sleepy old goats I protrayed them to be. ;-)
NOAA NEXRAD data
is free at
both resolutions but in a binary format that must be processed by the user into
visual content using the free NOAA Weather Toolkit. You can download and
try their free software here. Update on NOAA's tool kit. The latest
version provides everything we need as KMZ animated files to provide
historical radar PNG image files.
The output KMZ files must be renamed to *.ZIP so that Windows Explorer can
extract the PNG image files and the KML world file. Now Level 2 PNG
historical and real-time images can be read by GetNexrad.exe and the GetAcess
Database updated (see below).
Ok, you had to have been there. (Catalog
KTWX_V03_20090601_210444_REF_0053-60615.png)
I forgot to recreate the overlay
so it looks like the zoom covers the whole state of Kansas. Both radar
images are actually about 50 miles x 50 miles.
The great new N0Q didnt exist at the time for comparison.
Jump Start Tutorial for Getting Started with GetNexrad.exe Ver. 3.x:
1) Download the setup file 'setupGetNexrad.exe', install, and read the
'README.txt' file.
(If you watched the Youtube Getting Started you no longer have to extract the
mosaic overlays.)
3) The USA Mosaic update shows current radar reflectivity for the US. Double Click on a hot spot of reflectivity to zoom in on, and the
Regional Mosaic for that location will be downloaded and displayed.
4) The Regional Mosaic shows the same current radar reflectivity for just
that region. Double Click on a hot spot of reflectivity to zoom in
on and finally the Radar Site for that hot spot will be downloaded and a message
will be shown saying that overlay files and a world location file have also been
downloaded.
6) You may zoom and pan the image with the mouse wheel and drag the image
around, right mouse click to toggle menus.
8) To back up through your current session of radar images, click the
'Stepping' check box on the upper right menu and the stepping command
buttons will be displayed in the top center of the screen. Click the
'<<<'
back button to step backward through your images now on file. At any point
you can repeat the downward drilling or zooming process above.
11) To start the process above all over again from any point, press the
'Select Radar Gif Image' menu button and select the full 'USA_N0R_0.gif'
image or any other image for your new starting point. You do this enough
and you will soon get to be an expert in US geography and city names. I've
been everywhere man! I wonder how long it would take to have downloaded
every radar site overlay. I'm working on it!!!
12) The next step, if you accept this mission, is to install GetMyRealtime.exe and create a point or area
averaged rainfall/snowpack record for you location of choice as described below.
Getting Started
with GetNexrad Video:
You can change the N0R and NCR dBz to Rainfall Rates by clicking on the
Reflectivity DBZ legend value to change and edit the value in the upper left
screen text box for the current session or... Now even easier is to click on the
DBZ Caption and select the conversion type as skip below here.
AlsoI have updated GetNerad.exe dated 8/11/10 to allow users to change the
rainfall default rates by including the optional file 'Dbz2Rainrate.txt' that
has just the one line that could look likes this:
0, 0, 0.03, 0.06, 0.14, 0.32, 0.73, 1.65, 3.77 (now includes 10
and 15 dbz that are usually zero)
The values above are for the standard NWS Convective Storm rates shifted
higher by 2.5 dbz. The upper values
were not changed and so are not included.
Also the NWS sometimes even double the Convective Rates above for the dBz
range up to 55 dbz for the terror of the atmosphere... TROPICAL RATES!!!
Luckily these doubled rates only occur in the U.S. with hurricanes but... each
radar site will probably experience a Tropical event during a forecasters
career. Boy, I would not want to be that forecaster. Events like Big Thompson,
Colorado and Johnstown PA are
examples descibed here.
The formulas below are from the NOAA ROC for other conversions you may wish to
try:
Marshall-Palmer (Z=200R^1.6) General stratiform precipitation
East-Cool Stratiform (Z=130R^2.0) Winter precipitation - east of
continental divide
West-Cool Stratiform (Z=75R^2.0) Winter precipitation - west ofcontinental
divide
WSR-88D Convective (Z=300R^1.4) Summer deep convection
Rosenfeld Tropical (Z=250R^1.2) Tropical convective
Viewed in context it appears I may want to look into using the East/West Cool Stratiform values for
winter and Tropical for hurricanes.
Included is the utility program LatLongPixels.exe used to convert any Latitude and Longitude for any point on any Radar site
image to X,Y pixels. Wunderground
weather stations include their Lat/Long and this utility will make it easier to
more accurately determine its point file value.
Knowing the Wunderground Rainfall gage location of 323, 185 in pixels you can create the
Boundary and Point files using Notepad like this:
Title Line for Boundary File example for a Single Point Rainfall
322, 184
322, 186
324, 186
324, 184
322, 184
Xmin 322, Ymin 184, Xmax 324, Ymax 186
Centroid= 323, 185
The Point File is just these 2 lines:
323,185,323,185
1
Or you can let LatLongPixels latest version create the single point boundary and
point files for you. These 2 files are then copied to your Nexrad Radar
Gif file folder where GetNexrad and GetRealtime can find them.
If you would like to compute the whole radar screen area average rainfall or
maximum values for NET and NVL then here is an example Boundary file for pixel
values that you can have GetNexrad compute the point file for that will cover
the whole 143 mile radar radius area.
Grand Junction Full Radar Area
10,50
10,499
589,499
589,50
10,50
Xmin 10, Ymin 50, Xmax 589, Ymax 499
Centroid= 299,274
Creating a point location with LatLongPixels.exe video:
Area Averaged Boundaries:
For definition of Nexrad image pixel locations and boundaries, the GetMapArea's
General Pixel scale can be set on maps like the Big Google Map image options.
Use my GetMapArea's 'Google Map Lat/Long' option to locate Lat/Long point locations.
Find 2 intersections of the highways or text or something located within your better map view that
are located roughly on a screen diagonal to enable determing both the X and Y
scaling. 2 locations at about the same
screen height would poorly determine the Y scaling so choose 2 points on a
screen diagonal. With the 2 long/lat pair of values use LatLongPixels.exe to
convert them to radar image pixel X,Y pairs. Use the 2 X,Y pixel pair
values to set GetMapArea scale on the better map using the 'General Pixels'
method. You now can create a better defined pixel boundary file for use with
GetNexrad.exe and GetRealtime.exe.
For an example of the Better Maps method
go here.
*** USGS MAP VIEWER GetMapArea Menu Option *** This option is something new and
very buggy from the USGS. Do not use the scale legend for scaling. Its probably
100% off. Add scanned topo and use the 6 mile township or 1 mile section lines or Google Earth 2
points and calculate the horizontal distance. Hydrography + Scanned Topo or
Contours is really good for determing boundaries. Even has the lat/long so this
option will probably become your map source of choice. Just follow the cut and
paste instructions above for Google Maps. AND DON"T USE THE SCALE
LEGEND OR DISTANCE CALCULATOR!
Creating a Boundary Area with GetMapArea.exe video:
Creating Overlays:
To create a radar image overlay file like ESXoverlay.png follow these steps:
1) Start with your new radar location of interest. Simply Right Click the radar image as shown below and check 'New
Site' and press 'Get Radars'. Select the new radar site and all the needed
files for creating a new site overlay will be downloaded. Then simply
folow the prompts... but you still need the Boundary and
Point files to calculate rainfall. By the way, radar images will be dated in
your PC's time zone, not radar time, not universal time, not Greenich... your time!...
deal with it!... Actually now you may adjust the recorded time in the Access
Database using the 'rtable' parameter 'shift_time' to any time, even back to
Zulu.
GetNexrad can down load the past 4 hours of radar reflectivity, precip,
and velocity gif images in case
you have not set up GetRealtime.exe or are not staying current by running
GetRealtime.exe in batch mode. Right click the radar image
and select the number of hours to retrieve and press the 'Get Radars' button.
Remember, GetNexrad.exe is firstly a tool for viewing saved images from
GetRealtime and thinks you know your radar sites by radar and product code and uses
the 'Select Radar Gif Image' to get the currently downloaded
images for viewing which you can then update by a right click of the image and
'Get Radars'. Select multiple GetRealtime saved files for looping. And be sure to
empty your Recycle Bin often or your mom will not be pleased. General
Nexrad questions are answered
here.
Now that you can convert a radar image to rainfall you might ask, "Does
this radar stuff really work?".
Well, I am up to the challenge, what say you? Check out my rainfall comparisons here.
And for an automated real-time Nexrad to Rainfall to Runoff example study
go here.
If you are viewing an auto updating radar loop and you minimize the
GetNexrad window, then the current cumulative rainfall and time will be
displayed in the Windows tray. It will be updated every 3 minutes
as the loop is updated and you can go about your other work with out missing any
rainfall or wasting cpu usage..
You can navigate starting with the
USA_N0R_0.GIF mosaic radar image down to the regional moasic images, and then
down to the nearest radar site by double clicking on these images on the points
of interest. Once you are at the radar site, you can navigate to nearby radar
sites by double clicking on the area beyond the 144 mile range in the direction
you want to go.
That’s almost it. I hope you will take the next
step in setting up GetRealtime to automate retrieval, storage, and display of
your basin of interest’s rainfall amounts and learn how to compute runoff and
route it. GetMapArea is an easy and
fun way to get started computing runoff.
You can check for the latest GetNexrad.exe version and download just that file
here and just copy it over
your older version.
Toggle menus by right mouse clicks on the image. The radar image can be
panned and
zoomed using the icon in the image lower right corner or use the mouse wheel or just drag
the image. Click the icon center to reset the zoom and pan. The
circle drawn around the point pixel is to help the viewer locate the point on
the screen and is a 6 mile radius.
NOTES:
Sometimes a corrupt radar gif file will freeze the GetNexrad.exe
program and the offending gif file should be deleted. If the offending gif file
is your default gif file on start up, then you will have to delete the gif
manually using Windows Explorer.
If you would like to be able to select the radar site location itself as
the center of the range instead of your point or boundary location then you can
copy the dummy text file named 'RadarSite' without the '.txt' extention
in the GetNexrad directory to your directory for your radar gif files. You can then
select it from the list of boundaries displayed when you press 'Select Radar Gif
Image'.
GetNexrad
version 2.3 supports the 10 regional US mosaics and the entire continental
US radar gifs. LatLongPixels.exe has been updated also to support lat/long
to pixel locations on these gifs. Areal averaged rainfall for basins the
size of Texas are now possible. GetNexrad 2.3 comes with state overlays for
these mosaics because the NWS does not supply them.
GetNexrad version 2.3.1 has added radar station ID's AA0 to AA9 to
the file 'radarfiles.txt' for anyone wanting to add some of their favorite web
url's for Gif, Jpeg, or Png file formats. Just use Notepad to edit or
replace any of the AA sites I have added seperating each field with a tab.
I have added some Warning Gifs, a Satelite Jpg, and a live cam Jpg of a Nexrad
radar site 10,000 feet up in the Rockies.
Also I just noticed that when naming directories and folders, the letter
sequences '_N', '_AA', and '_US' will create a problem for GetNexrad determining
the radar product type. So use the character '_' with caution in your folder
names.
In addition to the milage (not nautical but real miles), the Range circles include
starting with the range miles at 12 o'clock and going clockwise, the radar
beam width in miles, the elevation in
feet above sea level for the bottom of the radar beam at the lowest scan angle
of 0.5 degrees with standard air refraction index of 1.21 and for the curvature
of a standard earth, and the center of the radar beam elevation. This info
will help explain why the image is more jagged and why winter storms can slip
under the radar the further you are from the radar site with all things being
standard.
**********************************
Getting started with Level 2 and Level 3 HISTORICAL radar images.:
1) Install the free NOAA Weather and
Climate Toolkit Version 3.4.11 or better. Besure to click the link "-- Check
if you have a current version of Java installed --" before Launching the
download.
2) After installing the Toolkit, run the program "wct.exe" and you should be
looking at a map of the USA. Maximize the window so that you will get consistant
image sizes.
3) From the top menu select "Data", "Load Data", then select "THREDDS". Copy/Paste
either of these 2 THREDDS Catalog URL:
http://motherlode.ucar.edu:8080/thredds/catalog/nexrad/level3/catalog.xml
or
http://motherlode.ucar.edu:8080/thredds/catalog/nexrad/level2/catalog.xml
and
press the "List Files".
4) For Level 3, select the product code, N0R, for base reflectivity, then the
radar site code. Level 2 goes directly to radar site code. Select any date for
the last 30 days including the latest real-time image. To figure out what time
the radar UT is, select the latest date and look at the latest radar coded time.
For Pacific Standard Time (winter), you would add 8 hours (7 hrs summer) to your watch time to get the
displayed radar UT zulu time.
5) Select the latest file displayed then press "Load" at the bottom of the form.
ALWAYS do this first to set a consistant image size. Once one radar image is
displayed, go back to the THREDDS form of displayed files and select several
covering your period of interest. Start with about 6 files for about a 1/2 hour
loop.
6) After selecting the 6 files, press the "Animate" button at the bottom of the
form and the Animate Wizard form will appear. Select the Animation Type= "Export
KMZ" which is a zipped file containing the 6 PNG images and a world location
file KML.
7) Press "Start" on the bottom of the form. The KMZ Export form will appear. I
have always selected "Drape over surface terrain" for the altitude. Then enter
the Output File name on your computer and press "GO" button and the KMZ file
will begin creation.
8) When finished the ANIMATION EXPORT COMPLETE form will appear. Select "No" for
now. Close the Data Selector form and close the program "wct.exe" NOAA Weather
and Climate Tookit.
9) Open your Windows Explorer and find the file you created "export.kmz". Right
click on the file and select Rename. Rename the file "export.ZIP" so that the
kmz file can be unzipped. Right click on the file "export.ZIP" and select
Extract All... and extract the images and KML file.
10) Delete the file "export.ZIP" and start up GetNexrad.exe. Using GetNexrad,
select "Select Radar Gif Image" and locate the 6 PNG images you extracted. You
will be notified that a world file was created from the KML file and that you
will have to Re Create Overlay if the image is a different size. One thing about
the Toolkit output images is that if there is no rainfall on the radar, the
images will appear in red and oranges for some reason but that wont interfere
with our rainfall calculations.
11) If you have created NEXRADBOUNDARY and NEXRADPOINT files for your regular
realtime images, copy them to the same location as your new PNG images just
created and you will be set to go.
12) If you select "Update Radar" while displaying the new PNG files you
downloaded, GetNexrad will get the usual real-time GIF image so be aware. Be
really aware! If in doubt its a good idea to Creat Overlay with each download.
13) I have found setting your computer's screen setting resolution will produce
the following sized PNG images:
800x600 >> 510x440 PNG
1024x768 >> 734x608 PNG
1280x1024 >>990x864 PNG
If your computer screen resolution is the 1024x768 or higher that should be
sufficient. The standard real-time GIF images are only 600x550. When Ridge2
becomes fully operational, the standard real-time PNG images will be 1000x1000.
14) If you have setup GetRealtime.exe to automate retrieval and storage of
NEXRAD products, then the historcial data can be sent to the database by Right
Click radar image LOOP, select your basin or point boundary
name and check the Save box. The radar loop will store the looping image values
in the GetAccess database or you can just write the data to the file
"RainLoop.txt".
15) For Level 2 conversion of DBZ to Rainfall rate, you can adjust the rain
rates in the Tab delimited file "Level2RGB.txt". The current values are the
standard NWS Convective rates but limited so as to be able to tell what DBZ was
limited. As of Sep 27, 2011 I have not completed the rates above 70 DBZ but I
hope to do so soon and will replace this text here when completed.
16) For older than 30 days historical data, click the "wct.exe" Toolkit menu
"Data", "Find/Order Data". Also, click on the Help menu to get your bearings.
17) And again and as always, radar image UT
Zulu time sent to the GetAccess Database
will be dated in your current PC's time zone, not radar
time, not universal time, not Greenich... your time!... deal with it!
Update, you can now use the 'time_shift' field in GetAccess table 'rsite' as
described on the GetRealtime Help web page if you save your loop values to the
database.
**********************************
Ridge 2 versus Ridge 1 Real-time radar images (Level 3 Products):
The NWS has started a test bed for their new higher resolution Level 3 image
products as descibed here.
GetNexrad now supports this Beta test bed source, although the test bed is not
always as responsive as desired. Update 11/04/2011--Reading the 7.2
megabyte Ridge2 directory was the problem and has been fixed. The new Ridge2 images are 1000x1000
pixels versus the old reliable Ridge1 600x550 pixels. GetRealtime
has also been updated to use the Ridge2 Testbed as an option available for testing.
During the 2012 Daytona speed week, the MLB radar had all kinds of missing
N0R radars gifs as a rainstorm approched after practice 4. The N0Q test bed was
flawless... so now N0Q is ol' reliable.
New Ridge 2 Image 1000x1000 pixels 1 degree x 0.6 miles x 5 dbz:
Old Reliable Ridge 1 Image 600x550 pixels 1 degree x 0.6 miles x 5 dbz:
Ai Yi Yi!!! You mean they went to all this trouble and image size
overhead just to produce the same 14 color donkey kong image???? What the
hell!?!? Why not add blinking!
Not so fast there amigo... The Ridge 2 Test Bed has two new products that are of
super duper Level 2 dBZ and velocity resolution, N0Q base reflectivity and N0U
base velolocity. Yes that's right, Level 2 values in resolution... so read
on.
New Ridge 2 Image N0Q 1000x1000 pixels 1 degree x 0.6 miles x 0.5 dbz:
Not bad at all for those sleepy ol' goats at headquarters!!!
I will
check out the differences in rainfall between the two
and see what this new larger size image bottle neck has to offer. I'm not
sure why the spatial upgrade and then use the same 14 color range... they have a
every color in Level 2 high resolution to use. What am I missing?
Smell the coffee... The fabulous N0Q product is the best choice now with
0.5 dbz resolution. The N0Q and Level 2 N0R upper dBZ's
have been completed as of 3/24/2012 and can be downloaded below or with the full
download.
Be careful when just pressing the 'Update' button to get
just the latest radar image from the Ridge2 testbed. It may be
over an hour old. If you want the latest, get a loop. And don't complain,
this Ridge2 migration is being done by volunteers who already have a real day
job.
As shown on the image above, click on the DBZ caption area to
display these options for converting dbz to rainfall rates:
The dbz to rainfall rates are in the tab delimited file
"Level2RGB.txt".
You can adjust these rates by editing this file but do not edit the color codes.
For instance My Semi-Tropical rates are the average of the Convective and the
Tropical rates.
Update 11/09/2011...Added a sound alarm when there
are Warnings for the radar site. I put a siren on the sound card and a
beep on the PC speaker in case the card
is off. To
turn off warnings, uncheck 'Overlays' or uncheck 'Show Current Warnings' on the
'Create Overlay' options.
And while we are on the topic of tornados, the new higher dBz resolution test
bed N0Q product clearly showed the hook echos and debri balls shown on the live
TV Weather Channel analysis for the OK and AR tornados of Nov 7-8, but the warnings on the radar periphery
are of too low spatial resolution to see. The N0Q images will show
warnings out to 280 miles as compared to the N0R range of 144 miles.
Update 12/12/2011 Webscreen sidebar:
You can now edit the file 'GetWebSiteList.txt' using Notepad and add your Gages
or Web pages of interest as shown here (no title):
0--KCAALTA3
1--KCAALTA3
2--KCAALTA3
Click Forecast
Click Quick Forecast
http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/lite/N0R/AMX_loop.gif
etc. etc. etc.....
The 0,1,2 are types of Wunderground displays. You can choose which member
of the list to use on the 'Create Overlay' menu screen and then press 'Exit'.
The 'Click Forecast' will get the NWS forecast for the location you mouse click
on. You can add as many other websites as you like.
Also new for users with W-I-D-E screens like laptops, on the 'Create Overlay'
menu you can set the radar view port aspect ratio. Try
setting the ratio to 1, then check the box and the screen will resize. Now
click the center of the small zoom/pan icon for an
unsquashed view of the radar. Now UNcheck the aspect ratio box and press
'Cancel' and you can now zoom back in with this unsquashed view.
(Or even easier, just drag the menu frame to make the picture square, then press the center of the small icon, and zoom in.)
I gave this aspect ratio = 1 my best shot but it is still elusive. Just
try try to make the radar range circles look round... or ignore the whole thing
because it matters none.
This also allows tinkering for more room for the sidebar web screens for even
normal sized screens. Remember even at 1:1 aspect, Lat:Long will not be
but this can really help at northern latitudes (not needed for horse
latitudes).
10-Minute Surface Observations with GetNexrad 3.4.0:
The 10-minute realtime surface observations Temp, Dew Point, Gusts, Pressure,
Precip, and Wind Barb data are supplied by NOAA's Warning Decision Support System --
Integrated Information on their website here:
http://www.wdssii.org
GetNexrad will display the approximately 2000 weather stations available or you
can limit them. This data delivery system is still experimental and this
being a research system is not guaranteed to be available 24/7. Not being
a weather man myself, I am not too sure what to make of this
information... except the Temp... but if you do then here you go. I think
it is what you had go by before radar... Model T stuff. Although it
would be interesting to watch with a hurricane approaching... I hope I scaled
the wind barbs ok for that scenario. The wind barbs point in the direction
from which the wind is blowing toward the center circle station
location and the barb length is proportional to the average wind speed, not
gusts. Just bass ackwards of how a windsock works... but again I'm no
weather man. In fact this is making my head hurt just looking at it... so
to go with the flow I will add a windsock option for us non-weatherized people.
The surface frontal analysis data is supplied by NOAA's Hydrometeorological
Prediction Center every 3 hours. The H, L, and Fronts are color coded as blue H = high
pressure center, red L = low pressure center, red lines =warm fronts, blue
lines = cold fronts, magenta lines = stationary and occluted fronts, and brown
lines = trofs (extended low pressure and outflows). I looked it up here:
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/fntcodes2.shtml
The blue H is good, the red L is bad. Winds go clockwise around highs, and
counter clockwise around lows. That's about all I know and I wonder why
that is. Like toilets below the equator probably. And why hurricanes
cannot cross the equator.... ok, that's just my hunch.
I have only just started viewing these surface obs but it seems so far that
Gusts and Precip are not reported if zero and I do not plot zero WindBarbs, and
that's ok. But it's quite a hodge podge of available data otherwise I
think. I would expect a value for each parameter at each location every
10-minutes. They should experiment fixing this before it rains. The
image below was my utopian thinking before I figured out what going on so don't
expect all the data to show up as this displays, 4 values and a wind barb.
In fact do not ever expect it. Who's in charge here? Aside from
this, the surface data will get to be mesmerizing. Who cares about the
radar! Now you too can be a weather expert like me with the
online crash course
in meteorology by simply viewing these learning modules from the University
of Illinois.
GetNexrad 3.4.1 can now animate the surface obs to go along with the
radar. But because only the current 10-minute values are available for
download, you will need to have a 30-minute loop going for up to 30 minutes to
fill each of the three 10-minute data slots. You can change to other loops
and the surface obs will continue to be filled without having to start over.
Utopoia:
Also the Day 1, 24-hour Quantitative Precipitation Forecast QPF contours have
been added to the surface observation overlays. The Day 1 QPF product time
period is described
here. The
GetNexrad surface obs download form will display the Day 1 QPF
beginning time as your local time. I think the Day 1 starting period will
change from 00Z to 12Z with updates so two periods for Day 1's are possible each
day... I think. GetNexrad will not check for QPF updates during your
session because my head is spinning now. Day1A and Day1B comes to mind.
Who's in charge here?
The Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS)
flood forecast points above normal
have now been added to the surface observation overlays. When the overlay
point is clicked, the side bar web window will display a hydrograph with the magnitude and
uncertainty of occurrence of the flood, from hours to days and months, in
advance. Although it may seem over kill, the flood forecasts are updated
every 15 minutes and if in a radar loop GetNexrad will check every 10 minutes
with the other surface obs or 15 minutes if not. The forecast points are
color coded for the peak of the forecast flood as yellow will peak above normal
stage, orange is minor flooding, red is moderate, and purple is major flooding.
In addition to the hydrograph, the side bar web window will display some great
info about the flood forecast point. This is some of the best stuff NWS
has to offer I think... besides the radar... and the tempertures... and wind
barbs.... etc. They should all get raises. But remember that the NWS
can't watch every small basin so use GetRealtime
and keep your eye on the radar to keep yourself minutes ahead of even the NWS small basin
floods and other warnings.
QPF Precip Contours and Flood Forecast Points:
Graphical Storm Tracking Example:
Start a radar loop going for 0.5 hours duration with
no boundary selected and
while looping....
(If you have a boundary selected like a race track and not the radar then skip
step #1)
#1 Click your point of interest, in this case the city Wichita Falls.
Now click 'Stepping' or the top center box Steps... and step back to beginning
of loop.
#2 Click on storm cell of interest (usually leading edge or tornado eye).
Now step forward to the end of the loop.
#3 Click on new location of
the storm cell of interest.
Displayed in the upper left text box will be the distance away, ETA, and speed
of travel. Uncheck 'Stepping' to let the loop continue. The projected orange line shows the distance to Witchita and
the ETA is for the end of this projected line.... or Witchita if the storm takes
a swing to the east.
You can repeat steps #2 and #3 if not satisfied. Double click
the image to clear all 3 points. And with a little practice you could
probably skip going into stepping mode. And some may prefer to
reverse steps #2 and #3. Click on the cell at the end of the
loop, then setp backwards and set the other cell point. This may help when
the rain front is less defined.
Tracking options on the 'Create Overlay' button allows for
turning off showing the tracking set points for better viewing and also allows
GetNexrad to automatically adjust the ending tracking point when the ending
track point is not the original set point #2 dbz reflectivity. This option
will look forward along the tracking line to find any dbz value greater than or
equal to the original #2 set point dbz within the tracking circle (5 pixel
radius). If nothing is found looking forwad it will look backwards to find
a greater than or equal dbz value. I am not sure yet if this option makes
for a better tracking ETA so you be the judge. It's like watching paint
dry but I think it's a nifty refinement as the storm nears ground zero.
And you would not want to use this adjust option when tracking the trailing edge
of the storm because you would soon find you would be tracking the leading side
of the storm. Also try tracking the non-radar color in just in front of the
leading edge and this adjustment will keep the leading edge what ever
reflectivity. Lots of quirks, so as in life, you need to be
experienced. Or you can always just reset your tracking points
manually as needed.
Also, the new Test Bed Ridge2 products seem to always be updated way sooner than
Ridge1... So I would always use them. And as noted above much more
reliable. Yeah I know the new colors are just
not radarish but time, like experience, heals everything. ;-)
And for the eternal optimist Mr. Hal F. Glassfull (the boss), you can track the
trailing storm edge to get the ETA of sunny skies (and when you can expect to
get the crew working again).
Storm tracking update... follows the set points and shows
actual real-time track location:
I have added some audio 'WAV' files on the full download that
you can have some fun with creating your own wav's using Windows Accessories-Entertainment-Sound
Recorder and
replacing these using the same file names. If you do not want to hear them
played it is ok to delete them... T minus 2 engage systems lift off!!!...
Tracking demo on Youtube video:
Attention NASCAR racing fans...
Gentlemen (and you too Larry McReynolds)
start your radars!!!
When rain is in the area, would you like to try to out guess Larry and the other
crew chiefs on when to pit, when to stay out, or if the day will be a rain out?
Well now you can. Your free GetNexrad download comes with setups for all
36 races on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. So reach up there and
turn on that radar loop one more time cause we're getting ready to go racing!!!
Or as DW says, "Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, hey ho, let's go..." or something to
that effect.
After installing the NASCAR overlay files as described below, for each race fire up GetNexrad.exe and press 'Select Radar Gif Image' and select the gif file in the
C:\Program Files\GetNexrad\NascarRadarGifs\
folder from the list below, then right click the radar image and press 'Get Radars'
to update the image or loops. Remember... it's RIGHT CLICK THE IMAGE!!!.... dont be as stubborn as some crew chiefs
like Larry and his front tire changer that can't
remember righty tighty, lefty loosey. And one more thing, be sure to empty your Recycle Bin often or
Larry will not be pleased and you'll be sweeping out the shop.
I almost forgot to tell you how to estimate time of arrival (ETA) for
rain cells on the radar arriving at the race track. If you have an auto
updating radar loop going then you can click on loop 'Stepping'. With both
'Lat/Long' and 'Miles' unchecked back step to the beginning of the loop.
Left click a rain cell moving toward the track. Then step forward to the
end of the loop and click on the new rain cell position. The text in the
upper left of the screen will display the miles away to the current rain cell
location and the ETA of its arrival at the track. You can use a 5 minute
step, but the longer the time period between first and last step the more
accurate the ETA will probably be. (See newer examples and video above
Larry's head.) There is an art to determining what
rain cells and what location and what loop steps to select. Hey, I didn't
say you would out guess Larry, but now you have a better chance.
NASCAR 2012 Race Schedule:
No.-Date------Track------------------------Radar Gif File
- February 18 Daytona Shootout-----------MLB_N0R_0.gif
- February 23 Daytona Duel----------------MLB_N0R_0.gif
- February 23 Daytona Duel---------------MLB_N0R_0.gif
1 February 26 Daytona--------------------MLB_N0R_0.gif
2 March 4 Phoenix-------------------------IWA_N0R_0.gif
3 March 11 Las Vegas--------------------ESX_N0R_0.gif
4 March 18 Bristol-------------------------MRX_N0R_0.gif
5 March 25 Fontana------------------------SOX_N0R_0.gif
6 April 1 Martinsville ----------------------FCX_N0R_0.gif
7 April 14 Texas----------------------------FWS_N0R_0.gif
8 April 22 Kansas --------------------------TWX_N0R_0.gif
9 April 28 Richmond ----------------------AKQ_N0R_0.gif
10 May 6 Talladega ----------------------BMX_N0R_0.gif
11 May 12 Darlington----------------------CAE_N0R_0.gif
- May 19 Sprint Showdown-----------------GSP_N0R_0.gif
- May 19 Sprint All-Star Race -------------GSP_N0R_0.gif
12 May 27 Charlotte-----------------------GSP_N0R_0.gif
13 June 3 Dover---------------------------DOX_N0R_0.gif
14 June 10 Pocono--------------------------BGM_N0R_0.gif
15 June 17 Michigan-----------------------IWX_N0R_0.gif
16 June 24 Sonoma------------------------MUX_N0R_0.gif
17 June 30 Kentucky-----------------------LVX_N0R_0.gif
18 July 7 Daytona--------------------------MLB_N0R_0.gif
19 July 15 Loudon-------------------------CXX_N0R_0.gif
20 July 29 Indianapolis--------------------IND_N0R_0.gif
21 August 5 Pocono------------------------BGM_N0R_0.gif
22 August 12 Watkins Glen---------------BUF_N0R_0.gif
23 August 19 Michigan--------------------IWX_N0R_0.gif
24 August 25 Bristol-----------------------MRX_N0R_0.gif
25 September 2 Atlanta--------------------FFC_N0R_0.gif
26 September 8 Richmond-----------------AKQ_N0R_0.gif
27 September 16 Chicago------------------LOT_N0R_0.gif
28 September 23 Loudon------------------CXX_N0R_0.gif
29 September 30 Dover--------------------DOX_N0R_0.gif
30 October 7 Talladega--------------------BMX_N0R_0.gif
31 October 13 Charlotte------------------GSP_N0R_0.gif
32 October 21 Kansas---------------------TWX_N0R_0.gif
33 October 28 Martinsville---------------FCX_N0R_0.gif
34 November 4 Texas---------------------FWS_N0R_0.gif
35 November 11 Phoenix------------------IWA_N0R_0.gif
36 November 18 Homestead--------------AMX_N0R_0.gif
www.nascar.com
After intially downloading and installing GetNexrad, race fans can install the NASCAR
race
overlays and boundary files by following these steps:
1) With Windows Explorer go to C:\Program Files\GetNexrad
2) Unzip the file C:\Program Files\GetNexrad\NASCARoverlays.zip by right
mouse clicking on it and select 'Extract All'
3) Select the destination C:\Program Files\GetNexrad (you will have
to change the default destination to this).
4) Then answer 'YES to ALL" when prompted to replace files.
5) Fire up GetNexrad and you should now be set to start the season with the
displayed radar image for Daytona Speedway. For the next race at Phoenix select
IWA_N0R_0.gif from the NASCARradarGifs directory as shown on the list of tracks above... and let's give Larry a run
for his money.
How to video on estimating storm ETA to race track:
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