The Weather Forecasting Forum

Hi all !

I am from Romania, Europe and I am a weather enthusiast in my spare time.
I would like to know if the RAOB sounding decoder software is available for use outside the USA ?
I mean if I am able to retrieve sounding data from given sources and use them to create diagrams for my location, Bucharest.
As far as I have seen this software can be configured for different usage based on 5 configurations: Student, Forecaster, Researcher , Operational and Complete. I would like to put you some extra questions regarding this problem.


1. From the beginning I am not interested in the Researcher package as I am not a researcher meteorologist or in the Complete package because it costs a fortune. I would like to know which is the difference between a forecaster meteorologist and an operational one ?
2. Cross sections can be created only between two points where there are upper air data available ?
3. If yes, can you tell me for instance if I have to draw a cross section between two points let's say A and B. In which A station has regular upper air data available and B station has upper air data available once in a day from let's say 3 to 3 days; that means I am not able to create cross sections, isn't it ?

I hope that your answers to my questions that I have posted would help me in choosing the best configuration for my needs and my budget, when I will buy a licence. My interest is that of doing some studying of upper air situation for my level of meteorological knowledge and not doing academic studying or commercial usage, so I would like to do the best option for my budget.

Thank you for your time and response !

Thank you for your interest in RAOB. To answer your first question -- RAOB can be used anywhere, even on Mars. In fact RAOB does not care who or where it is being used. It only cares what format the sounding data comes in. And if RAOB can not decode the sounding data given it, you can manually enter the data and process any sounding data. You can even transform any sounding data into RAOB's CSV format for automated input.

Your references to the 5 configurations (such as Student, Forecaster, etc) are only pre-packaged RAOB bundles which offer cost discounts if purchased as such. You don't have to buy any of these bundles. In fact most users purchase individual program modules, or just initially purchase the Basic program, and then add optional modules later. In fact, you can purchase the RAOB Lite program for only $50 and still plot soundings anywhere in the world -- depending on the format of the sounding data being used.

Now to answer your specific questions ...

1) The difference between the Forecaster and Operational packages are evident in the optional program modules listed in the package columns. Just click on each module listed in the package column to see the available functions for each module. As indicated above, you can also purchase individual program modules here ... http://raob.com/order_form.php

2) RAOB can create cross-sections or time-sections between 2 to 2,000 sounding stations at a time, and plot them in a variety of diagram formats.

3) Dates and positions of sounding data are important when creating sectionals, but RAOB does not prevent you form creating diagrams. Soundings can be 3 seconds apart or 3 years apart -- it doesn't matter -- RAOB will create the diagram anyway. Just send me some sounding data and I will show you the diagrams that can be created by RAOB.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.