What's new at RAP Real-Time Weather
- Jul 12, 2011
The entire backend of the site was moved to a new server that will
enable many more improvements and space for longer term storage.
- May 23, 2005
The entire backend of the site was moved to a new server that should
improve reliability.
- May 23, 2005
With the move mentioned above, the numerical model data have switched
from a 80-km version of Eta (grid 211) to 40-km (grid 212)
and the RUC switched from 40-km (grid 236) to 20-km (grid 252).
- Jun 04, 2004
The entire site gets a face-lift. All of the primary content
remains the same but look for new quick links to various resources,
particularly on the weather home page.
- Apr 18, 2004
The Surface Page now includes a
mechanism to view time loops of METAR plots and a few new regional
centers have been added: YRV, YQR, ANJ, CAR to view more Canadian
data. Furthermore, the AUS sector moved to ABI and MSP was split
into new sectors: DSM and DLH.
- Apr 16, 2004
The Radar Page is entirely new with
graphics of 0.5° reflectivity and velocity including a brief
archive of images. Furthermore, regional-scale images are now
available from a national radar mosaic product as well as a Java
applet to loop either suite of images.
- Apr 07, 2004
A new Lightning Page has been added
but is only available to users within the .ucar.edu network
since the National Lightning Detection Network, NLDN data
are proprietary.
- Nov 05, 2003
The Numerical Model Page now includes a
selection of images created from the NCAR version of MM5 realtime
simulations performed by James Bresch.
- Jul 25, 2002
The Numerical Model Page has changed a lot.
There are new options for more hours for all models. The MRF button was
replaced with a "GFS" button. GFS stands for Global
Forecast System which is basically a new name for the
AVN and MRF model at NCEP. All old MRF plots are now phased out.
- Jul 25, 2002
The Upper-Air Page now includes a
series of two new charts. The rawinsonde data is plotted as a station
model for constant pressure levels plus it is shown along with contours
of heights and temperatures (or winds). These new charts are updated
every 12 hours with 00 and 12z rawinsonde data. They will no longer
update every hour as new RUC numerical model data becomes available.
- Jul 24, 2002
The Prog Charts Page has been fixed after a
week-long outage. There are a few minor changes to these charts including
the discrimination of snow and wintry mix for all charts, not just the 12-hour
chart as in the past.
- Jul 19, 2002
The Upper-Air Page Skew-T charts were
modified slightly for a new technique to estimate storm motion (CELL).
- May 27, 2002
The Java applet for viewing METARs
has been upgraded to show METARs for AK, HI, Europe, and Asia in addition to
the lower 48 states.
- May 23, 2002
The Surface Page retrieval of raw and translated
METARs now utilizes a MySQL database to
retrieve METARs. The underlying software using PHP
to access the DB is extremely fast.
- Apr 19, 2002
The Satellite Page includes a new option
to loop the full size (680x680 or 1200x896 pixels) satellite images.
- Apr 1, 2002
The Surface Page METAR plotting software has
undergone minor adjustments. An additional flight category, LIFR, is noted by
a magenta filled circle. The pressure plotted in dark blue to the upper right
of a station is now sea-level pressure, no longer altimeter setting. Other
minor changes as well.
- Jan 19, 2001
On the Upper-Air Page, I added
Skew-T/Log-P Diagrams for most Canadian, Mexican, and Carribbean
rawinsonde sites as well as Alaska and Hawaii. Likewise, these data
points are now displayed as station data on the constant pressure charts
though the reliability of these data is not as high as the U.S. sites.
- Jan 10, 2001
The imagemap to access NEXRAD images on the Radar
Page now has an option for NWS-created images.
- Jan 1, 2001
The Java Applet for METARs found on the Surface
Page now has a large-screen version.
- June 3, 2000
The Global Spectral Model (AVN/MRF) has recently been changed at NCEP. Part
of these changes is running the model more frequently including forecasts to
120 hours on a 12z cycle. I have added this model cycle to my
Numerical Model page.
Unfortunately, I changed some code such that the Precipitation variable is
really precipitable water from 72 to 120 hours. I need NCEP to add the
precip variable to the files I retrieve to remedy this problem. Stay tuned.
- May 26, 2000
On the "Weather Home" index page, you may have
noticed a new graphic depicting the Weather
for Today. This is a new product consisting of forecast frontal positions
along with highs and low pressures generated by forecasters at
NCEP-HPC combined with direct
model output of precipitation (3-, 6-, or 12-hour accumulation) colored
by the type of precipitation. Additional forecast times are also available
via the new "Prog Chart" page.
- May 5, 2000
Announcing perhaps the single biggest addition to this web site for a long
time: a co-worker of mine, Paddy McCarthy, has created an extremely
useful tool for viewing METARs (surface observations) using Java. Found
on the Surface Page, the tool allows
zooming over any region you desire, plotting only the variables you desire,
and viewing entire raw METAR data simply by placing the cursor over a site.
It uses a smart algorithm to reduce clutter from neighboring stations and
updates with new data automatically. The level of customization with this
Applet is remarkable (in my opinion).
- May 4, 2000
Real-time weather data via a wireless device? Yes! If you own a 3Com
Palm Pilot® you can get METAR data while traveling. See the link on
the Surface Page.
- May 2, 2000
Lots of changes to the Numerical Model Page
including a few new RUC/Eta plots and many changes to the MRF choices.
- April 24, 2000
Considering both DTN-Kavouras and
WSI-Intellicast offer
real-time NEXRAD images, I now offer a choice between the two
providers as a radio button next to the imagemap found on the
Radar Page.
- April 21, 2000
For each topic page I now have an informational page describing aspects about
plots, data, and much more. These are linked under the Page Info
button on the upper right of each topic page. I have much bigger aspirations of a
full online textbook and meteorological guide with annotated
figures, but when will I ever have the time.
- April 20, 2000
On the Surface Page, I now provide a
FORM interface to retrieve METARs by station ID and/or U.S. state (using @CA
for example). See more details from the "Page Info" link at the
top of the Surface Page.
- April 12, 2000
The Satellite Page now contains images
from GOES-10 as well as GOES-8. Note the new close-up sectors
over Hawaii and southern Alaska. Also note the addition of a black and white
infrared image option as a supplement to the color one.
- April 5, 2000
As you can tell, this site has been re-designed. With the exception of
the Aviation Page, all prior
content remains. The Aviation Page has long been a portal page to another
website I co-created: the Aviation
Digital Data Service (ADDS). Also the Miscellaneous Page has merged
with another NCAR/UCAR weather page and is linked on the navigation bar
above. Lastly, I have included a handful of my weather photos at the top
of each newly designed page and invite you to view lots more on my photo
website located at www.inclouds.com
- The year was 1994
I started these pages sometime in 1994 but cannot recall when. I did so
to provide the weather community with graphics of data for which I already
had a lot of software in place. I also learned Perl and a whole lot about
the web along the way. In the decade since then, I've tried to add
significant content and improved graphics.
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