1wmweather+(1) General Commands Manual wmweather+(1)
2
6 wmweather+ - A dock app for displaying weather information
7
9 wmweather+ [options]
10
12 wmweather+ downloads current conditions, forecast data, and optionally
13 a radar image. It will also watch for various warnings and display them
14 using an external command.
15
17 Note that later options override earlier ones, and command line options
18 override configuration file options. All multi-character options may be
19 specified with one or two leading dashes. The configuration file is
20 simply one option (with value if necessary) per line, leading dashes
21 optional. Empty lines and lines beginning with the '#' character are
22 ignored.
23 General Options
25 -display <display name>
26 Name of display to use.
27 -c <file>
29 Specify a configuration file instead of the default. This option
30 is ignored in the configuration file.
31 -display-mode <string>
33 Specify the starting display mode. Valid values are "cur"/"cur‐
34 rent", "fcst"/"forecast", and "map"/"radar".
35 -location <latitude+longitude>
37 Specify a latitude and longitude, for example "41'59'00N
38 87'55'00W" or "N41.9833333333333 W87.9166666666667". You may use
39 either the decimal or DMS notation, with either a prefixed sign
40 or a prefixed or suffixed N/S/E/W. If this option isn't given,
41 the program will assume you live on the equator and guess your
42 longitude based on your system timezone offset.
43 -e, -email <address>
45 Specify the anonymous FTP password.
46 -v, -version
48 Display version number and exit.
49 -viewer <program>
51 External program for viewing weather warnings. This command must
52 take the text to display from standard input. It will be exe‐
53 cuted as '/bin/sh -c <program>' with stdout redirected to
54 /dev/null. If not specified, it will default to "xless".
55 -animate, -noanimate
57 Turn animation on or off. Animation may still be toggled with
58 the middle mouse button as described below. The default is on.
59 Station Options
61 -s, -station <ID>
62 Station ID for all stations. Equivalent to '-metar-station <ID>
63 -avn-station <ID> -eta-station <ID> -mrf-station <ID>'.
64 -metar-station <ID>
66 Station ID for METAR observations. See Current Conditions for
67 more information. A value must be provided.
68 -avn-station <ID>
70 Station ID for AVN forecasts. See Forecasts for more informa‐
71 tion.
72 -eta-station <ID>
74 Station ID for ETA forecasts. See Forecasts for more informa‐
75 tion.
76 -mrf-station <ID>
78 Station ID for MRF forecasts. See Forecasts for more informa‐
79 tion.
80 -warning-zone <zoneID>
82 Zone ID for weather warnings. See Warnings for more information.
83 This option may be repeated for multiple zones.
84 -forget-warning-zones
86 Cause wmweather+ to forget all warning zones found to this
87 point. Useful for user configuration files to override the warn‐
88 ing zones specified in the system-wide configuration.
89 -metar-uri <URI>
91 -avn-uri <URI>
92 -eta-uri <URI>
93 -mrf-uri <URI>
94 -warning-uri <URI>
95 URI to download the specified data from. See URIs for more in‐
96 formation.
97 -metar-post <DATA>
99 -avn-post <DATA>
100 -eta-post <DATA>
101 -mrf-post <DATA>
102 -warning-post <DATA>
103 Post data for downloading the specified data. See URIs for more
104 information. Note that the post option must follow the corre‐
105 sponding URI option. Note that the post data will not be URL-en‐
106 coded for you.
107 -noradar
109 Do not display a radar image. This is the default.
110 -radar-uri <URI>
112 -radar-post <DATA>
113 Retrieve an image from the specified URI. See Radar Map for more
114 information.
115 -radar-crop <string>
117 How to crop the radar image. XxY+W+H format. See Radar Map for
118 more information.
119 -radar-cross <string>
121 Where to draw radar crosshairs. XxY format. See Radar Map for
122 more information.
123 Measurement Options
125 -m, -metric
126 Same as '-cm -hPa -kph -tempc'.
127 -in Display precipitation amounts in inches. This is the default.
129 -cm Display precipitation amounts in centimeters.
131 -inHg Display pressure in inches of mercury. This is the default.
133 -hPa, -mbar
135 Display pressure in hectopascal (millibars)
136 -mmHg Display pressure in millimeters of mercury.
138 -atm Display pressure in atmospheres.
140 -mph Display windspeed in miles/hour. This is the default.
142 -kph Display windspeed in kilometers/hour.
144 -knots Display windspeed in knots.
146 -mps Display windspeed in meters/second.
148 -beaufort
150 Display windspeed on the Beaufort scale.
151 -tempf Display temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. This is the default.
153 -tempc Display temperature in degrees Celcius.
155
157 The dockapp has three display modes: Current Conditions, Forecasts, and
158 Radar Map. Modes are selected by the buttons across the top of the
159 icon. Weather Warning status is indicated by the font color. At any
160 point double-(left)clicking the main display will send SIGUSR1 to the
161 process (see SIGNALS).
162 Current Conditions
164 This mode displays the current conditions as given in the METAR report
166 for the selected station, as downloaded from
167 http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/observations/metar/stations/
168 ⟨http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/observations/metar/stations/⟩ . Down‐
169 loads are attempted every 15 minutes. Find your station at
170 http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tg/siteloc.shtml
171 ⟨http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tg/siteloc.shtml⟩ .
172 The station ID is displayed at the top left of the display. The obser‐
174 vation date (local) is to the right, and the time (local and UTC) occu‐
175 pies the line below. Under that, to the right is the temperature and
176 relative humidity, the wind direction and speed, the atmospheric pres‐
177 sure (indicated by "P"), the heat index (indicated by "HI"), and the
178 wind chill (indicated by "WC").
179 To the left is a graphical display of the current weather. The sky con‐
181 dition is indicated as clear (sun), partly cloudy (sun with small
182 clouds), mostly cloudy (sun behind a large cloud), or overcast (large
183 cloud). This image may be covered by fog (foggy overlay),
184 dust/sand/haze (brownish particles), or blowing snow/dust/sand (blue
185 wind-lines), with the level of transparency indicating the degree of
186 visibility. If a funnel cloud or tornado was reported, a tornado
187 graphic will be displayed instead of the sky condition.
188 Beneath this graphic, icons will depict rain (raindrop), snow
190 (snowflake), freezing precipitation (hailstones), and thunderstorms
191 (lightning bolt). If animation is enabled, the icons will appear and
192 vanish on a ten second cycle to indicate precipitation intensity. Ani‐
193 mation may be enabled or disabled by middle-clicking the display.
194 Forecasts
196 This mode displays the current conditions as given in the AVN, ETA, and
198 MRF data for the selected stations, as downloaded from
199 http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tdl/synop/products/bullform.mav.htm
200 ⟨http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tdl/synop/products/bullform.mav.htm⟩ ,
201 http://www.nws.noaa.gov/mdl/synop/products/bullform.met.htm
202 ⟨http://www.nws.noaa.gov/mdl/synop/products/bullform.met.htm⟩ and
203 http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tdl/synop/products/bullform.mex.htm
204 ⟨http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tdl/synop/products/bullform.mex.htm⟩ . AVN
205 and ETA reports are downloaded at startup, 0000Z, and 1200Z. MRF re‐
206 ports are downloaded at startup and 0000Z. In the event of failure,
207 downloads will be retried every 15 minutes. See the URIs given to find
208 your stations.
209 The display is divided into two sections. A small window at the top in‐
211 dicates the date and hour (local time) for which this forecast is
212 valid. Left-clicking this window or clicking the small arrow-button to
213 the right will advance to the next forecast; right-clicking or clicking
214 the small arrow-button to the left will move to the previous forecast.
215 Middle-clicking will return to the first forecast in the list.
216 The larger display at the bottom shows the forecast for the selected
218 date and time. To the right from top to bottom are the station ID, the
219 daily high and low temperatures, the predicted temperature and relative
220 humidity, and the wind direction and speed. The final line may display
221 the heat index (HI), the wind chill (WC), the amount of snow to fall in
222 that period (SN), the amount of liquid-equivalent precipitation to fall
223 in that period (P), or the forecast type (e.g. "AVN" or "MRF").
224 To the left is a weather display similar to that for the Current Condi‐
226 tions. The animation here indicates the percent chance of rain, snow,
227 freezing precipitation, thunderstorms, and severe thunderstorms (large
228 lightning bolt). Animation may be turned on or off with the middle
229 button. When animation is off, the mouse wheel may be used to adjust
230 the cutoff chance for the display (hold Shift to adjust faster). The
231 cutoff will be displayed briefly when first turning off animation, when
232 first displaying forecasts, whenever button 6 (typically, the 'side'
233 button) is held down in the large display. Permanent cutoff display may
234 be toggled by double-middle-clicking the large display.
235 Radar Map
237 The radar image will be downloaded every 30 minutes from the URI speci‐
239 fied. Then, if -radar-crop was specified in the form XxY+W+H, a subim‐
240 age of witdh W and height H will be taken, with the upper-left pixel
241 taken from (X, Y). If X or Y is negative, it will be measured from the
242 right/bottom of the image instead of the top/left. The image is then
243 resized to fit within the 52x40 rectangle available. A border around
244 the image indicates the current font color. If -radar-cross was speci‐
245 fied in the form XxY, crosshairs will then be drawn over the pixel (X,
246 Y) when the middle button is held on the radar map.
247 If -noradar was specified or no radar data is available, an image to
249 that effect will be displayed instead.
250 Some nice images are available from
252 http://weather.noaa.gov/radar/mosaic/DS.p19r0/ar.us.conus.shtml
253 ⟨http://weather.noaa.gov/radar/mosaic/DS.p19r0/ar.us.conus.shtml⟩ and
254 http://www.weather.com/common/home/maps.html
255 ⟨http://www.weather.com/common/home/maps.html⟩ . Be kind, since the
256 display is so small pick the smallest version of the image to download.
257 Weather Warnings
259 Various weather warnings, watches, and statements for the specified
261 zone are downloaded from
262 http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/watches_warnings/
263 ⟨http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/watches_warnings/⟩ . Downloads are at‐
264 tempted at the same time METAR observations are retrieved. Find your
265 zone at http://weather.noaa.gov/ ⟨http://weather.noaa.gov/⟩ or
266 http://weather.gov/ ⟨http://weather.gov/⟩ . Note that some areas issue
267 weather warnings by multiple geopolitical units (e.g. "zones" and
268 "counties"). The -warning-zone option may be specified multiple times,
269 so all appropriate files may be inspected.
270 If any new warnings are downloaded, all text will be displayed in an
272 orange/red scheme instead of the normal blue/orange. The new warnings
273 may then be viewed by left-clicking the large display window in any
274 mode. At any point, all current warnings may be displayed by right-
275 clicking the large display.
276
278 The URIs from which the various observations, forecasts, and images are
279 downloaded can be easily customized by supplying values for the various
280 -*-uri options. The following substitution variables are available:
281 %s The station ID for the specified data type (note that warnings
283 have no station ID).
284 %z The zone ID, for warnings.
286 %f The warning type, for warnings (e.g. "tornado", "spe‐
288 cial_weather_stmt").
289 The substitutions can be manipulated with the standard printf(3) modi‐
291 fiers for strings, in particular the #, 0, -, ' ', +, and ' flags, the
292 field width, and the precision fields are accepted. Also, an additional
293 flag ! is recognized to use the capitalized versions of various nu‐
294 meric flags (e.g. X versus x) and to capitalize character or string
295 values, and an additional syntax ><offset> after the precision is rec‐
296 ognized to start at an offset into the string value (negative values
297 indicate offset from the end of the string).
298 The current defaults are:
300 metar-uri
302 http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/observations/metar/stations/%s.TXT
303 avn-uri
305 http://www.nws.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/mos/getmav.pl?sta=%s
306 eta-uri
308 http://www.nws.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/mos/getmet.pl?sta=%s
309 mrf-uri
311 http://www.nws.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/mos/getmex.pl?sta=%s
312 warning-uri
314 http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/watches_warnings/%f/%.2z/%z.txt
315
317 $HOME/.wmweather+/
318 Directory used to store downloaded data files. These files may
319 be deleted at any time.
320 $HOME/.wmweather+/conf
322 User configuration.
323 /etc/wmweather+.conf
325 System configuration.
326 $HOME/.wmweather+/.dir-test
328 Created and deleted to test write access to $HOME/.wmweather+/
329
331 SIGUSR1
332 Forces downloads for the current mode to be attempted immedi‐
333 ately.
334 SIGUSR2
336 Forces all downloads to be attempted immediately.
337
339 Before reporting a bug, please check the HINTS file (in particular,
340 proxy instructions are in that file). Also, please verify that you have
341 the latest version of wmweather+, and that your bug has not already
342 been reported. Bugs may be filed at
343 http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=60336&atid=493854
344 ⟨http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=60336&atid=493854⟩ .
345
347 wmweather+ was written by Brad Jorsch <anomie@users.sourceforge.net>,
348 using the wmgeneral code by Martijn Pieterse <pieterse@xs4all.nl>.
349 Email regarding wmweather+ should be sent to anomie@users.source‐
351 forge.net.
352
354 wmWeather was a good idea, but it didn't give me enough information.
355 However, no code from wmWeather was used in writing wmweather+.
356 January 27, 2021 wmweather+(1)