The makeD2DFile utility allows a local forecast
office to create a netCDF file containing IFP forecast grids that can
be read by an AWIPS (D2D) display system. The program reads the
gridded forecast data from the Official database, formats the data into
a format compatible with the AWIPS display system, and writes the file
to a directory known to the D2D system.
The makeD2DFile program is limited in several ways. Currently the
program will store only a subset of the GFE weather elements. The
set of weather elements that can be stored is limited to T
(temperature), Td (dew point), RH (relative humidity), MinT (minimum
temperature), MaxT (maximum temperature), QPF (quantitative
precipitation forecast), and PoP (probability of precipitation).
Note that at this point the program will not store vector data such as
wind or discrete data such as Wx.
While the time period over which the grids are stored can be controlled
with the "s" and "e" switches, the programs is hard-coded to store
grids every hour between the to indicated times. There is
currently no provision to store grids at different time intervals (for
example, hourly grids to 24 hours, then 3 hourly out to 48).
All grids are converted to MKS units before they are stored in order to
match the convention of other D2D gridded files.
Running makeD2DFile From the GFE
To run the makeD2DFile program from the GFE, perform the following
steps...
- From the GFE's Main Menu bar, Select Products->Scripts...
- When the
Scrips dialog appears, select MakeD2DFile
and click Run and Dismiss.
The makeD2DFile program reads data from the ifpServer, formats the data
so that it is compatible with D2D, and writes the file to a special D2D
directory reserved for GFE. When the program finishes you can
view the data in D2D via the Volume Browser. To view these grids
you must first select the State(s) or WFO scale on the D2D scale
selector. Then in the D2D Volume Browser, select GFE for the
model, select the weather elements you wish to view, and Surface as the
level (if it's not selected for you already). When you select
"Load" the elements will be loaded in D2D just like any other
model. Other data may be overlaid on top of the GFE grids whose
time matches that of the grid.