European Users

[Dave Exton]

Hi all,
I was just wondering if there are any European Digital Atmosphere users on the forum...

[Dave Exton]

Hi, No takers for Europe? I only ask because it would appear that that part of the world is unusable at the moment. Many of the countries, ie, Norway, Sweden, Finland sometimes Austria, Switzerland and Spain, do not seem to broadcast their data in the same way as the majority of other stations, and don't get picked up by Digital Atmosphere. I think that this has been an ongoing problem, but it's influence seems to be be spreading. The result is a lack of coverage over a large part of Europe, as far a staion reports / plots are concerned. I have raised the issue quite a few times but never get an answer or solution. Sadly, despite updating my copy of DA, I am not able to use the program the way I used to, due to the noticeable lack of coverage. I should point out that I am very much an amateur, and therefore not privy to official update notices (from the weather agencies), but without proper European coverage, sadly DA is useless to me (despite the many excellent updates). As I've been using DA for about 15 years, sadly, as far as Europe is concerend, there's no longer any point, so I'll have to put DA to bed and use other, but not as good, charts from elseware. European caviat emptor?

[Dave Exton]

P.s., Sorry about the typos. I havea rather bad essential tremor, and my typing / spelling are not wht they might be...

[Phil Layton]

Hi Dave, You are correct that an increasing number of countries in Europe are not sending their SYNOP reports in the format that is on weather.cod.edu/digatmos/syn You can still get the synops from Ogimet.com but it more hassle, as you have to manually edit the files so that they are compatible with those that DA accepts. Alternatively, use METARs - which are available for all countries, but I accept do not have the same level of information.

[Dave Exton]

Thanks, Phil, I will have a look at Ogimet to see if I can use it. It might be worth the hassle, even if i pick up a few reports here and there. i've never been a fan of METARS because of the imprecise pressure reports and, as you say, the lack of detail. Anyway, thanks again, Phil, I'll see what I can do. Take care, Dave.

[alanduckers]

Hi Dave,
unfortunatly some European countries only provide synops via BUFR code which COD and NIU do not pick up in their files.
As Phil says Ogimet does put these reports into Synop code but it does need removal of Ogimet time data so DA can read them.
I use Note Pad to do this and then paste the reports into the COD time file.
As a aside i have asked Tim to take a look at the pressure tendency analysis as pressure tendency code 5 plots as a positive value rather than a negative value which means the analysis is incorrect. Also i have asked him to take a look at auto station current weather coding which DA plots incorrectly for certain codes.

[Dave Exton]

Thank, Alan... Noted

[Dave Exton]

Alan, Phil, thank you so much for your replies.

I wonder if you could give me some pointers about where, in the data, i could find the portion of the codes that you use to edit the DA codes? You'll have to forgive me, I'm very much an amature, and although I understand the SYNOP format, I hardly ever use it directly.

If this is too time consuming for you, I will completely understand. I have access to Ogimet, and I will trawl the data to see if I can work out where the European data begins.

In the mean time, thanks again for your posts, which have given me some incouragement that all is not lost.

Regard,
Dave.

[alanduckers]

Hi Dave,
could you explain why you want to edit the DA codes from the data and i should be able to help.
As for the latest Ogimet synop data for each country try the following link and pick the country synops you need from the drop down menu.
http://ogimet.com/usynops.phtml.en,
regards,
Alan

[Dave Exton]

Hi Alan, thanks for the reply.

All I really want to do is fill in the gaps where the synoptic reports from Norway / Sweden / Finland so that I can plot them onto my Digital Atmosphere maps. I've been a DA user for many years now, but DA is not equiped to deal with some of the European data. All I'm looking for, is a workaround so that my European Synoptic Charts don't have big gaps in the coverage.

If that makes sense, and you can help, I'd be most greatful. Meteorology has been my hobby for decades now, and I've plotted charts most days over the past decade or longer. DA has been improving all the time and Tim has done a superb job with it. As I say, my only dissapointment is missing lage swaths of data because of the changes in transmission protocols.. From previous coms with Tim, I understand that bringing DA into line does have difficulty, but I've always wondered how Euro users have managed. I've taken it as read that th eamatures have just muddled along, and the pros have their own ways of picking up the lost info from other sources. Anyway, at the risk of being too long winded, I hope that explains what I'm trying to do.

Regards, Dave Exton, Bristol, UK.