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Intermittent data download from weather.cod.edu

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 3:32 am
by mpreece
Follow-up: This appears to be a network problem. Tracerts show the connection dying at a comcast domain in Chicago. Down or Just Me reported "down"; then it said "up" and I was able to get the data. Turned right around and re-downloaded to get just two of the three files, and then Down or Just Me reported "down" again.

Patience is a virtue...hopefully it will return to full service soon.












The last several days I have had difficulty downloading through the data retrieval window for weather.cod.edu for sao, syn, and upa files. i can use the web browser to get to the data ok, but the download hangs. NWS works flawlessly for surface data.

My first thought was that a Win10 update this week broke the download process in DA. I uninstalled and reinstalled DA with no change. I also used both http and https addresses (the latter seems to work with browser retrieval). I am using ver 3.08a Professional.

Anyone else having sudden problems with data retrieval? Is there a cod.edu server issue?

Re: Intermittent data download from weather.cod.edu

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 10:48 am
by Budgie
Thanks for the confirmation it isn't just at my end.

This only started on Friday for me and I thought it may be something to do with the change to https, because when I changed it in the script it worked, until this morning.

Tim,
Is there a way to build in a timeout for the data retrieval which just closes the window after a set time period that could be added to 3.09?
With the current weather.cod issue, when it locks I have use the Task Manager to "End Task" in order to close the DA window.

Re: Intermittent data download from weather.cod.edu

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:35 pm
by Wally
Yeah. COD, as almost all "serious" sites have done, went to https.
Some NOAA sites still use http, but others have switched over. If the rest of NOAA does it, we could be seriously limited. I'm sure Tim will thinking ahead on this. But, until then, buoys are now gone to us. (Or am I missing NOAA having that data available?) With Albany, COD, and FSU gone, well, it's getting trickier.

I agree with having a timeout on fail. It seems that it already does that after a LONG time, but in those cases I seem to be getting a file not accessible error (file still open message) that shuts everything down.

Re: Intermittent data download from weather.cod.edu

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 3:13 pm
by Budgie
I'm getting the same error but it's in the background, only showing when I try to close DA and it doesn't stay on the screen for me to hit the OK.

If you're using the standard data retrieval then you can change the URL manually to HTTPS:
  • 1. Click the Data menu
    2. Click "Retrieve data"
    3. Highlight the site you want to change by clicking on it so it turns blue
    4. Click the "Edit site" button and change the URL
    5. Click OK to save.

Re: Intermittent data download from weather.cod.edu

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 6:17 pm
by mpreece
I changed all addresses to https. Once out of 20 times I can get all three files to download (sao, syn, upa) from COD but usually it locks up between files ... if the first file will download at all. Maybe a delay needs to be inserted between each file retrieval attempt?

Sorry (but kind of good to know) that others are seeing similar results.

Re: Intermittent data download from weather.cod.edu

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 6:25 pm
by MMWeather
Cod has had issues before and again this weekend. Even their model's page has been on/off again beginning on Fri. In the past it has happened on weekends and is fixed Mon/Tues.
P19

Re: Intermittent data download from weather.cod.edu

Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2019 1:46 pm
by Wally
Tim has responded quickly to the COD change which became a problem, and has created these links for current data:
I hope Tim doesn't mind me posting this first, but I believe everyone can use these...

http://www.weathergraphics.com/data/current-metar.txt
http://www.weathergraphics.com/data/current-synop.txt
http://www.weathergraphics.com/data/current-upper.txt

for surface, buoy, and upper air needs.

Of course,
http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/observat ... es/@HZ.TXT
still works for surface

and someone has just posted an independent source for upper air:
http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/upper/current.rawins

The biggest gain in the top links is synopic, which includes buoys. And, his setting up of the links helps restore this data for us.

Re: Intermittent data download from weather.cod.edu

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:15 pm
by Tim Vasquez
I have word that NIU will be bringing their data feed online soon, which will give more choices.

If worse comes to worse I'll just set up a NOAAPORT station here, but hopefully that won't be necessary.

The hourly data passes on weathergraphics.com/data have been working for a few weeks now and are available to be used in Digital Atmosphere's Internet > Retrieve Data. These sources are already built into V3.10 and later. The only thing I haven't done is extend the SYNOP and UPPER files on WeatherGraphics back to the last 6/12 hr cardinal hour, so if you're getting that type of data at off-hours, like 23Z, you will get very few plots. I will have this fixed soon.

Tim