MesoWest Surface Weather Maps

MesoWest Surface Weather Maps provide access in a convenient and visually inutitive way to current and retrospective surface weather data stored in the MesoWest database. The most recent observations within a specified time frame ending at a specific time are displayed (the default setting is the most recent observation at each station within the past hour, but the user can view conditions back to January 1997 within time windows of 15 minutes to 12 hours). A single query to the MesoWest database collects all the observations within a user defined region for a number of parameters (temperature, wind, relative humidity, etc.). To reduce unnecessary downloading of large amounts of data, we encourage users to select relatively small domains by default and then add data from surrounding areas as the need arises by using the "accumulate stations" check box. The user may use a cookie to "remember" a favorite configuration of location, units and data type. A tabular listing allows users to search for particular stations or to sort by location or weather condition (coldest temperatures, highest winds, etc.). Mouseovers and pop up boxes provide access to additional data for a specific station. Estimates of observation quality are indicated by the color of the station icon (red: suspect; orange: caution; black-map- or green-table: OK).

This interactive tool uses the Google Web API. Additional interactive tools using the Google API framework are under development. For improved performance, we recommend for Mozilla/Firefox browsers:

• type in the browser url box: about:config
• search for <dom.max_script_run_time> and change the value to 60 from the default of 5

This modification allows the browser to run javascript for 60 consecutive seconds (the default is 5) before asking you if you would like to continue running the script. Otherwise, viewing an area with large numbers of stations may cause a pop-up to appear after the default 5 seconds.

Microsoft Internet Explorer and Macintosh Safari web browsers are not fully supported at this time. Let us know if you experience problems using those browsers.

If you have a specific question not listed here, check Frequently Asked Questions by clicking on the link in the upper-left corner of the map.

Features of the Surface Weather Map tool include:

• Upper Title Bar:
  • Region selector
  • Product selector: if there is another mesowest product that you are looking for, you can select it here.
  • Help: opens this page
  • Main Menu: MesoWest main page

• Data Selection Menu:
  • Default: Select which stations are displayed by region or zone.
  • Radius: Select stations within a certain radius of a point.
    • Select radius (5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, or 150 miles)
      then
      
    • On the map, click on the point around which you would like to see all stations within the selected radius.
      or
      
    • Enter location in menu above map on the line Location:. Then press "Enter" or select "Go!"
  • Display all sites that have reported within a given time before the selected time
  • Select which stations are displayed (RAWS, NWS and RAWS, or All Networks).
  • Select Standard (English) or Metric Units (default: Standard)
  • To see additional data in a different geographical region without removing data in another region, select Accumulate stations. Be sure to deselect Accumulate stations when you prefer to view data in one geographic domain only. Accumulating many regions will cause your computer to load all of the previous data, and will increase the time required to display the data.
  • Click Refresh! to load selected data

• Display menu:
  • Select data to be dicplayed by each station. This version allows the display of two data values.
    • Overlay 1 will display the selected value (default "Current Temp") to the left of each station point.
    • Overlay 2 will display the selected value (default "-- None --") to the right of each station point.
  • Create a highlighted box around displayed data (very helpful for the Satellite display)
  • Note: Pressure is displayed in a format other than the acutal value.
    • Metric units: Displayed as a 3-digit number. Decimals are discarded, values less than 1000 are left as they are, and values greater than 1000 have the leading '1' discarded. (e.g. '999.1' mb displayed as '999' and '1002.4' displayed as '002')
    • Standard units: The decimal and leading digit are discarded. (e.g. '29.92' inHg displayed as '992')

• Advanced Features menu:
  • Time Options: Display a time other than the current time.
    • If a time other than the current is desired, be sure to deselect the "Auto Current Time" option.
    • Enter desired year in the format YYYY
    • Enter desired month in number format (Jan=1,Feb=2...Dec=12)
    • Enter day and time (time must be in UTC and in the format HH:MM even if MM=00 (e.g. 05:00))
    • Select Refresh! to display.
    • To return to the current time, select Auto Current Time. Again, if viewing another time frame, make sure this item is not selected!
    • Note: Past data are available according to when the station became available to MesoWest (e.g., Station BGLA2 does not have data earlier than Aug 30, 2002). No data are available before 1997.
  • Layer Options:
    • Base Layer: Select display for area (regular map, Satellite image, roads and cities, or evelation).
    • Overlay: Select an overlay of other weather data (NEXRAD radar, County Warnings, NWS Fire Zones, GACC, and/or Roads and Cities).
    • For both Base Layer and Overlay options, adjust the opacity of the selected layer.
    • When selections are made, click Set Layers! to redraw the map.
  • Fire Options:
    • View the weather around currently reported fires.
    • Open Fire Options menu.
    • Under each
  • Clear Settings: clears the "Remember Settings" cookie
  • Remember Settings: saves a cookie on the computer you are currently using so that the next time you return, you do not have to specify again the present settings
  
  
• Click Map in upper-right hand corner of the map to set the background display as a road map, Satellite as an actual satellite image, or Hybrid as a satellite image with a road map overlay.

• Station and weather information is displayed by moving the mouse over site locations. Each site is represented by a wind barb from that site's most recent observation. (click here for help on reading wind barbs; Important note: a full barb represents 5 m/s (10 kts); a half barb represents 2.5 m/s (5 kts) . Click on a location to display:
  • Graphs of Temperature and Wind (just above the graph, under the option "View Graph," select "Temp" to display a graph of Temperature and Relative Humidity, or select "Wind" to display a graph of wind speed and direction)
  • Max/Min events for Temperature and Relative Humidity
  • Amount of Precipitation in the last 1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours, and 12 hours
  • Link to MesoWest Station Interface

• Tables (Click on Show Table just above top-right corner of map)
  • Lists sites in current area selected under Settings (Moving the mouse over station link in Table will display site information on map as if moving the mouse over station if station is in current display. Clicking will do the same as clicking on the station site.)
  • Sort list by clicking on "Station, Temp, RH, DP, Wind, Gust, Elev, Lat, or Lon"
  • An estimate of the quality of selected variables contained in the observation is denoted as OK(green), caution(orange), or suspect(red).
  • Click on a station link to have the popup for that station appear on the map (you may need to zoom out to see that station's location).
  • To hide the tables, click Hide Tables.

• Navigate or Zoom using tools on the left side of the map (up arrow to move north, down arrow to move south, left arrow to move west, right arrow to move east, or center of area with icon in the middle of the arrows) ("+" zooms in, "-" zooms out). Easy navigation: click and drag the map to move display. See Google Maps for more information on navigation.