[GEMPAK #ZRE-163366]: RUC2 CAPE forecasts

Kelton,

For the ruc236 pulled from the site you linked, CAPE forecast grids are 
available out to 12 hours:

GEMPAK-GDINFO>l
 GDFILE   = 2011062021_ruc236.gem
 LSTALL   = YES
 OUTPUT   = T
 GDATTIM  = all
 GLEVEL   = all
 GVCORD   = none
 GFUNC    = cape
GEMPAK-GDINFO>

  NUM       TIME1              TIME2           LEVL1 LEVL2  VCORD PARM
  122     110620/2100F000                          0         NONE CAPE        
  265     110620/2100F001                          0         NONE CAPE        
  420     110620/2100F002                          0         NONE CAPE        
  567     110620/2100F003                          0         NONE CAPE        
  730     110620/2100F004                          0         NONE CAPE        
  869     110620/2100F005                          0         NONE CAPE        
 1025     110620/2100F006                          0         NONE CAPE        
 1245     110620/2100F009                          0         NONE CAPE        
 1398     110620/2100F012                          0         NONE CAPE    


For the ruc 20km, forecast grids of CAPE are available out to 18 hours with 
vertical coordinates "NONE" and level "0" (surface) or for gvcoord PDLY 
(pressure difference layer) 255:0.

It's possible that you may have been using a file which was still being written 
to as you were attempting to use it.

Give it another try using the above GDINFO input as a guide and see if you 
notice a different result.

As for calculating CAPE, it is possible but the solution can be cumbersome so 
let's see if this solves your problem before moving on to that issue.

Best,

Michael James
Unidata 

> Gempak Support,
> 
> I am trying to use gdplot2 to get hourly surface CAPE images, but I
> have run into a problem. I am only getting CAPE for forecast hours
> F000-F003. I guess I should specify - I am using .gem files from
> http://metfs1.agron.iastate.edu/data/gempak/
> 
> Using gdinfo, it confirms the lack of CAPE forecasts in other hours. Is
> there a way to tell gdplot2 to manually calculate CAPE, or do I have to
> grab the raw GRIB files and decode them?
> 
> Regards,
> Kelton Halbert.
> 


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: ZRE-163366
Department: Support GEMPAK
Priority: Normal
Status: Open