Thanks for trying out Digital Atmosphere. This software, initially developed in 1992 and rewritten under Windows in 1996, encompasses thousands of hours of programming by one person (me) and is the unique result of twenty years of forecasting experience, working with various meteorological workstations and mainframes, and many years of amateur observation activities and storm chasing. This manual is designed to help you get up and running with this advanced but easy-to-use weather analysis program. It will start out by taking you on a short overview of Digital Atmosphere. Following that, each menu command is explained in detail. Finally there is an extensive appendix with possibly all the miscellaneous information you could ever want.

It's a powerful weather prediction tool. It's hands-down the leading weather software program for Windows, and is used by the National Weather Service, the Air Force and Navy, dozens of television stations and consulting firms, and hundreds of amateurs and hobbyists. Its powerful and rapidly expanding capabilities will let you monitor developing weather anywhere on Earth — around the globe, or right in your own local area.

Digital Atmosphere is essentially a geographical display program that ingests raw weather bulletins disseminated by the National Weather Service to Internet sites, satellite feeds, and weather databases. Using this data, it produces stunning plots and analyses that are equivalent to those found on multi-million dollar workstations.

The maps and other products you create with Digital Atmosphere are fully customizable. You can define the geographic area you wish to map and specify the map's resolution. You decide how much detail you want shown in your maps, from country borders only to rendered topography with county lines and roads overlaid. You choose what weather data you want displayed, how the data is displayed, and in many cases what algorithms are used to analyze the data. Whatever your meteorological graphics needs, Digital Atmosphere can create exactly the map you desire, using only the parameters you desire.

Digital Atmosphere import specifications

• Land synoptic (WMO FM 12 SYNOP)
• Ship synoptic (WMO FM 13 SHIP)
• METAR (WMO FM 15 METAR)
• Buoy (WMO FM 18 BUOY)
• Upper air (WMO FM 35 TEMP)
• Aircraft data report (ACARS) (WMO FM 42 AMDAR)
• NMC frontal depiction transmission format (ASUS1 KWBC)
• Gridded binary (GRIB) (WMO FM 92-IX)
• NEXRAD Level III (ICD 2620001) WSR-88D NEXRAD format
• Australian AXF comma-delimited observational data and similar formats
• NHC Hurricane Warning bulletins

The Digital Atmosphere software program and this user's guide are copyrighted. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this software is strictly prohibited and may constitute a criminal offense.

The user agrees to evaluate Digital Atmosphere during the 30-day trial period and determine whether the software performs acceptably. By registering Digital Atmosphere with the author (Weather Graphics Technologies), the user expresses that the software is acceptable.

The author makes no warranty or representation, expressed or implied, with regard to the accuracy of Digital Atmosphere, its quality, quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose, and may not be held responsible for any damages whatsoever arising from the use, misuse, or attempted use of this product, including injury, death, and/or loss of earnings. Users who require a significant degree of forecasting accuracy shall use other tools in conjunction with Digital Atmosphere and shall seek the assistance of qualified meteorological consultants.

The author reserves the right to make changes and improvements to Digital Atmosphere, to the User's Guide, and to sales and pricing policies at any time, and without obligation to notify any person or organization of the revision or change.