The Weather Forecasting Forum

Tim, on the screen gabs from a local program I use, there is a "PEN" function (button upper right) that allows (in the case shown) to draw in the area where rain has fallen.





One of the problem I have with DA2000 (and I have only had a few goes with DAWS) is that rain plots are hopeless, probably due mostly to the paucity of data (this is the sun burnt country after all).

We have had some rain today (yipee) but plotting the one hour data is usually no good and it is very difficult to ingest sufficient data to produce a plot. The data I have plotted in WxProfiler comes from the BoM in text files (this is the one plotted above for NSW).
ftp://ftp2.bom.gov.au/anon/gen/fwo/IDY0 ... 241000.axf
ftp://ftp2.bom.gov.au/anon/gen/fwo/IDY0 ... 241000.axf

If there was a pen function in DA2k and or DAWS one could draw in rain areas from other data sources on DA charts. Alternatively, can the rain functions be improved somehow, and or, could you develop some other means of reading special files, like the BoM's ****.axf files.

As I pointed out a year or so ago, these ****.axf files are the only decent real time let alone comprehensive data files freely available in Australia, other than wmo data, which is nowhere near as complete. So, as a pleade / beg, can an axf file ingestor be developed ? I am sure a lot more people in Aus would use DA if you did. In the meantime, I will settle for the PEN though.

You can use the Control Panel > Fronts toolbox to draw isopleths to mark off rain areas, which sounds similar to the pen function you describe.

There has been AXF support in Digital Atmosphere (see documentation appendix) but since it has been three years and the module is a little complex, it may not have survived the heavy rebuilds. You may want to check it out and see if it does or doesn't work.

Tim

I didn't think any of that was working yet. All I get on hitting the isopleth button is:-

"Digital Atmospher encountered an error. Access violation at address 00566342 in module 'DIGATMOS.EXE'. Read of address FFFFFFFF"

I will have another look at the pdf file re the axf stuff.

Which version? I thought we fixed this frontal analysis error problem in V1.1a.

V1.1
Downloading V1.1a now

Well Tim, good news and bad news.

First, downloaded and installed V1.1a
Second, created a DIGATMOS.FMT file, which seems to work on the BoM's IDY03010xxxxxxxxxxxxx.afx files.

You can see the DIGATMOS.FMT file I created, and the three data files I ingested here.
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~ventus45/ ... S/AXF-Tim/

Now, a couple of points / observations.
First, in the parameters list in the PDF file there is no station or sea level pressure parameter actually in the section dealing with table data files in the appendix. What do I do for pressure in this case ?
Second, a problem has come up in DAWS V1.1a that did not exist before in DAWS V1.1, ie, I can't get Dewpoint in C on the menu at all.

Experiment results.
First, I put the new DIGATMOS.FMT in the root directory, I then cleared the data directory, I then closed DAWS, and then restarted DAWS. Everything happened as normal.
Second, I downloaded the three axf files with FTP Lite and copied them into the empty data directory.
Third, I did a station plot and got the stations, but also a few strange lines. See http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~ventus45/ ... rt_001.gif


I then cleared that, and plotted temp C and got this http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~ventus45/ ... rt_002.gif

So far so good. I then went to plot dewpoint C and it wasn't there as stated above, so I decided on humidity instead, and got this http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~ventus45/ ... rt_003.gif

After taking a double-take, decided to write this.

I am going for a southern and coke up the local pub with a couple of mates now. See you in a couple of hours.

PC

I have since downloaded and installed patch 1.1b

Re - Ingesting BoM axf files.

I have added the AXF file URL's to the internet download screen, and have found that even though DAWS will download one at a time, it will not download two at a time. It seems that when an ftp site is involved, it just locks up and will not move on to the next file.

I have also modified the DIGATMOS.FMT file and have been able to ingest data for both metar and synops and plot some of them, but not all. I think I am making some progress, but will persevere.

One thing that is an issue though, is that there is a ton of information in these files that we can't plot in DAWS simply because there is no parameter to read them or process them, which is a crying shame. I will make a full list of all the data fields and forward them later, probably in a day or two, but it will mean you will have to do a substantial update to the list of parametrs that can be used in ingesting table, unless the PDF file is out of date. If there are others available please / post a full list.

I have created a directory in my site for these AXF experiments, so drop in any time to see what I am up to.
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~ventus45/ ... S/AXF-Tim/
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~ventus45/ ... S/AXF-Tim/

Tim, these are the URL's I am using for BoM data.

The first two work OK, they are Laurier Williams WMO coded data which we have been using for years in DA2000.
The second two are the BoM's AXF text files.

SFC METAR Australian BoM Metar - L. Williams http://www.australianweathernews.com/di ... @M@D@H.MET
SFC SYNOP Australian BoM Synops - L. Williams http://www.australianweathernews.com/di ... @M@D@H.SYN
SFC METAR Australian BoM Metars - AXF ftp2.bom.gov.au/anon/gen/fwo/IDY03101.20@Y@M@D@H00.axf
SFC SYNOP Australian BoM Synops - AXF ftp2.bom.gov.au/anon/gen/fwo/IDY03010.20@Y@M@D@H00.axf


Now, I just did a test run to show you what is happening when I load them one by one.
Basically, one and two work OK.
The problem begins with three.

» Starting Digital Atmosphere...
» Windows 4.10.67766446
» 255.5 MB available
» 134.7 MB in use (52.7%)
» Digital Atmosphere ready
» Checking for core resource table updates...
» Retrieving http://www.australianweathernews.com/di ... 072600.MET ...
» Transfer done
» Initializing variables...
» Decoding METAR data...
» Decoding model output data...
» Decoding frontal data...
» Indexing upper air data...
» Ready.
» Plotting data...
» Ready.
» Observations: 309 total, 308 in domain, 651 plotted
» Retrieving http://www.australianweathernews.com/di ... 072600.SYN ...
» Transfer done
» Decoding METAR data...
» Decoding SAO data...
» Decoding frontal data...
» Indexing upper air data...
» Ready.
» Plotting data...
» Ready.
» Observations: 82 total, 81 in domain, 424 plotted



» Starting Digital Atmosphere...
» Windows 4.10.67766446
» 255.5 MB available
» 134.7 MB in use (52.7%)
» Digital Atmosphere ready
» Checking for core resource table updates...
» Retrieving http://www.australianweathernews.com/di ... 072600.MET ...
» Transfer done
» Initializing variables...
» Decoding METAR data...
» Decoding model output data...
» Decoding frontal data...
» Indexing upper air data...
» Ready.
» Plotting data...
» Ready.
» Observations: 309 total, 308 in domain, 651 plotted
» Retrieving http://www.australianweathernews.com/di ... 072600.SYN ...
» Transfer done
» Decoding METAR data...
» Decoding SAO data...
» Decoding frontal data...
» Indexing upper air data...
» Ready.
» Plotting data...
» Ready.
» Observations: 82 total, 81 in domain, 424 plotted
» Retrieving ftp2.bom.gov.au/anon/gen/fwo/IDY03101.200407260000.axf ...


» Starting Digital Atmosphere...
» Windows 4.10.67766446
» 255.5 MB available
» 134.7 MB in use (52.7%)
» Digital Atmosphere ready
» Checking for core resource table updates...
» Retrieving http://www.australianweathernews.com/di ... 072600.MET ...
» Transfer done
» Initializing variables...
» Decoding METAR data...
» Decoding model output data...
» Decoding frontal data...
» Indexing upper air data...
» Ready.
» Plotting data...
» Ready.
» Observations: 309 total, 308 in domain, 651 plotted
» Retrieving http://www.australianweathernews.com/di ... 072600.SYN ...
» Transfer done
» Decoding METAR data...
» Decoding SAO data...
» Decoding frontal data...
» Indexing upper air data...
» Ready.
» Plotting data...
» Ready.
» Observations: 82 total, 81 in domain, 424 plotted
» Retrieving ftp2.bom.gov.au/anon/gen/fwo/IDY03101.200407260000.axf ...

************ Notes for Tim.
************ I watched the modem and it definitely downloaded the file OK,
************ but it then freezes at this point, so I hit the "Cancel" button,
************ and then hit the plot stations button.

» Plotting data...
» Ready.
» Observations: 82 total, 81 in domain, 424 plotted

************ As you can see, it then replots the SYN file above.
************ In other words, it has not ingested the AXF fle.
************ When I look in the data folder, the file is there however, named ftp1.txt, ************ size 182kb. When I open it in a text editor, it is all there OK.
************ Also, there are three other files, http.bin with size zero, incoming.asc
************ size 187kb, and incoming.bin size 186kb.
************ So now I use File>Import a File>ftp1.txt

» Retrieving ftp2.bom.gov.au/anon/gen/fwo/IDY03101.200407260000.axf ...
» Plotting data...
» Ready.
» Observations: 82 total, 81 in domain, 424 plotted
» Processing...
» Initializing variables...
» Decoding METAR data...
» Decoding model output data...
» Decoding frontal data...
» Indexing upper air data...
» Ready.
» Ready.

************ Then I hit station plot button again, and get it OK.

» Plotting data...
» Ready.
» Observations: 0 total, 0 in domain, 343 plotted

************ But look at the "zero" total and "zero" in domain, but 343 plotted - SPOOKY !