GRIB Data & Importing

[KC9CGJ]

Hello everyone!

New to the forum here, so bear with me. I posted this to the Wx-SOFT list the other day, and was directed here.

Anyhow, my question concerns GRIB data and importing it into DAWS. First off, I presently only have the demo version, since I want to find out if I can get things to work the way I want them to... So, if this is the root of the problem then the question will be moot.

Anyhow, I'm downloading GRIB data from:
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/products/eta/

And attempting to import a file I acquired, by the name of:
eta.t18z.awip1200.tm00

I'm getting an "I/O Error 32" when importing this into DAWS... Is this an error with the file or DAWS? Or am I downloading the right GRIB file(s)?

Any advice on data I need to acquire and/or importing would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

[Carl Sidor]

Dear KC9CGJ:

I don't know about the site you are using, but I have had excellent results at: nomads.ncdc.noaa.gov. You can select from various models and forecast hours, and it allows you to speed up the download by setting a subregion instead of downloading the entire grib file. Also, you may select just certain variables, or all variables. I download it for PCGRIDDS 32, and then use the same files in DAWS, just to see a different view. Hope this helps.

Cordially,
Carl Sidor

[KC9CGJ]

Carl,

Thanks for the help -- I like the NOMADS interface much better!

Anyhow, I am still getting an error when importing them into DAWS. The error says "Range check error." I've tried downloading every single file in the data set via FTP and get the same on each attempt.

Any other ideas? Does it have anything to do with the fact I'm only using the demo version of DAWS?

Thanks!

[Carl Sidor]

Matt:
I wouldn't think that having the demo version would prevent you from using all the features of DAWS. After all, that is the point of a demo version. Are you trying to import all the forecast hours that you select at one time, or at least more than one? I had my best luck only importing one forecast hour at a time. I did not mention it in my previous posting, I download all the hours that I want to My Documents, then access them from there with DAWS or from the GRIB>NWS folder in PCGRIDDS 32, depending on what program I was using first. I have had nothing but success with this route. Maybe someone else has some ideas if this doesn't work for you. Good luck!

Cordially,
Carl Sidor

[texsky]

Matt,

GRIB support in DAWS is not fully implemented right now, so a lot of files won't work. The only ones I'm aware of that do work are under the "211" grid domain. These exist for both the GFS and ETA models, and are around 1mb in size. Also be aware that if you use anything other than the "nearest neighbor" contouring analysis method, DAWS will give spurious results. Tim is aware of these issues and will hopefully start working on a fix, soon.

hth,
Bob

[KC9CGJ]

Bob - Carl...

Thanks for the help. I was able to get the 211 domain data to work correctly. I'm a little disappointed that the 211 domain isn't available on the 6z or 18z Meso-ETA initializations, but the 00z and 12z is sufficient for now...

Thanks again for the help!!