March is Here!!
After starting the pre-season off with a bang, the extended models aren't offering any hope of chasing anytime soon around these parts. I'm abit concerned with the extensive dry air that has entrenched itself over a large portion of this region. Dewpoints have been running near or below zero. The GOM SSTs are in good shape however, so once we can get the upper air pattern to transition in our favor, the extensive bone-dry air might actually become an asset. Since dry air is more dense, this could setup some truly classic dryline confrontations down the road. Until then, the upper air pattern just doesn't appear to cooperate for the next 7-10 days and possibly longer. I hope things change for the better by the Ides Of March...my personal official start to the season. I don't plan on cranking up the mobile data services just yet. :-)
Speaking of which, everybody is awaiting the much anticipated upgrade of WxWorx to include SPC MCD and Day One discussions and graphics along with watch boxes. However, I won't be one of them. It's not worth the extra 50-70 clams per month just to get these items. I do quite well with cellular data and wifi spots which seem to be everywhere now. I wouldn't be surprised to see a cow along the side of the road one of these days with a wireless router strapped to it. ;-)
My point is that I expect about a 95% data access rate for such SPC goodies. Last June, I ran extensive data all throughout western Kansas with only a very rare data blackout which lasted about 10-20 miles at most. Even then, I was in the middle of a chase and the need for data other than radar was unnecessary. And, yes, I'm using Cingular which I hear people crying about coverage in W KS, but I just don't seem to have a problem....at least enough of a problem to pay the extra money for the SPC products. Go figure.
Instead, I'm scaling down WxWorx to what I use it for 100% of time anyway...surface plots and radar. It simply fills in for when I can't get cellular data access or the GRLevel3 radar feeds aren't working (very rare I might add). I kinda like the instant composite view of WxWorx as well. I finally configured the station plots and customized the zoom levels to display them. It's a pain in the ass, but I got it just right.
The "Sailor" package [insert joke here] is $30/month and gets me the radar and surface plots and warnings. I don't need the other stuff. I'll save my money for the unlimited cell data and a booster. I always run GRLevel3 before anything else because you get all of the cool radar products in high detail compared to WxWorx. I run all reflectivity tilts and SRV tilts 1 and 2 and perhaps VAD when doing pre-convection analysis. I sometimes run the 2 or 4 panel display feature to watch REF SRV simultaneously. The zooming features rock too. It's good stuff, manard.
I'm also started work on a web-browser based program to run on my laptop to do alot of custom data gathering via cellular data. It will update specific things like MCDs Day Ones, AFDs, surface and satellite images. It will pop up and let you know when something new pops up. I'll have some links to model data and SPC mesoanalysis too along with upper air stuff.
I know other software exists for this purpose, but they try to be all things to everybody and thus have a heavy "footprint". You have to install stuff too and configure it and hope it works with your system/hardware. My goal is something simple and basic...entirely run in a web browser (DHTML)....and just the really important things I really truly use extensively. You just load the files (no install wizard) and click on the index.htm file and away you go. I am lazy though, so we'll so how much of this I get done before the season cranks up. :-)
I still anticipate making it down to TESSA next weekend unless something comes up. I'm looking forward to it.
That's all from Amarillo for now.
Speaking of which, everybody is awaiting the much anticipated upgrade of WxWorx to include SPC MCD and Day One discussions and graphics along with watch boxes. However, I won't be one of them. It's not worth the extra 50-70 clams per month just to get these items. I do quite well with cellular data and wifi spots which seem to be everywhere now. I wouldn't be surprised to see a cow along the side of the road one of these days with a wireless router strapped to it. ;-)
My point is that I expect about a 95% data access rate for such SPC goodies. Last June, I ran extensive data all throughout western Kansas with only a very rare data blackout which lasted about 10-20 miles at most. Even then, I was in the middle of a chase and the need for data other than radar was unnecessary. And, yes, I'm using Cingular which I hear people crying about coverage in W KS, but I just don't seem to have a problem....at least enough of a problem to pay the extra money for the SPC products. Go figure.
Instead, I'm scaling down WxWorx to what I use it for 100% of time anyway...surface plots and radar. It simply fills in for when I can't get cellular data access or the GRLevel3 radar feeds aren't working (very rare I might add). I kinda like the instant composite view of WxWorx as well. I finally configured the station plots and customized the zoom levels to display them. It's a pain in the ass, but I got it just right.
The "Sailor" package [insert joke here] is $30/month and gets me the radar and surface plots and warnings. I don't need the other stuff. I'll save my money for the unlimited cell data and a booster. I always run GRLevel3 before anything else because you get all of the cool radar products in high detail compared to WxWorx. I run all reflectivity tilts and SRV tilts 1 and 2 and perhaps VAD when doing pre-convection analysis. I sometimes run the 2 or 4 panel display feature to watch REF SRV simultaneously. The zooming features rock too. It's good stuff, manard.
I'm also started work on a web-browser based program to run on my laptop to do alot of custom data gathering via cellular data. It will update specific things like MCDs Day Ones, AFDs, surface and satellite images. It will pop up and let you know when something new pops up. I'll have some links to model data and SPC mesoanalysis too along with upper air stuff.
I know other software exists for this purpose, but they try to be all things to everybody and thus have a heavy "footprint". You have to install stuff too and configure it and hope it works with your system/hardware. My goal is something simple and basic...entirely run in a web browser (DHTML)....and just the really important things I really truly use extensively. You just load the files (no install wizard) and click on the index.htm file and away you go. I am lazy though, so we'll so how much of this I get done before the season cranks up. :-)
I still anticipate making it down to TESSA next weekend unless something comes up. I'm looking forward to it.
That's all from Amarillo for now.
posted by Steve Miller TX at 3/02/2007 02:42:00 PM
2 Comments:
Sounds like a neat Idea, I wrote a whole series of batch scripts several years ago that used wget and a bunch of Unix clone programs to grab a suite of products and display them locally. This was all before the advent of RSS and other content notification schemes. I have not maintained or used it much the past several years as cell and hotspot coverage have greatly increased. I used to use them when I found I had data to get the latest of all the standard products. They are a tribute to my lack of programming skill, but you are welcome to them if you want them. We plan to leave Tulsa around 1:00PM Friday for TESSA. Hope to see you there.
Only 3 days now! The guest room is ready.
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