Weather Data:
Other Links:
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the timeliness of this data?
If my satellite receive system is up and running, and my reception is
good, you will see data on this web site within about 5 seconds of the
National Weather Service Weather Forecast Offices receiving it on
NOAAPort. For WSR-88D stations in Precipitation Mode, this seems to work
out to about 50 seconds from scan time for 0.5 degree base reflectivity.
(Note: It takes the WSR-88D 50 seconds just to spin around once).
How does this web site work?
The NOAAPort broadcast is received at a site in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The
receiving computer checks the data it receives against filter lists, and
distributes the data to different places depending on which filters
matched. Another piece of software maintains a constant connection to
the NOAAPort receive software, selects the data products you see at left
for reception, and processes data with LibNNids II as it is received.
Once data is processed it is copied to the MSOE web server from the
receive site.
Where can I obtain the software to set up my own NOAAPort receive
system?
I'm aware of just a few software packages with this functionality.
Unisys will charge you dearly for their software, the National Weather
Service
isn't likely to send you a copy of theirs, and Unidata imposes lots of
restrictions on who is even allowed to get it.
I will begin selling my
software for a reasonable price very soon. See the
NOAAPort Software Page.
What's up with those timestamps?
Meteorological data is timestamped with Coordinated Universal Time
(UTC) by convention. UTC is simply GMT. It is often designated with a Z,
which is read "Zulu," the ITU Standard Phonetic for the letter Z.
Many meteorological data products will be interpreted by scientists in
different time zones. By using UTC no one needs to worry about time
zones. You just need to keep a UTC clock and you're set! Also, UTC is
not affected by Daylight Savings Time. There's no need to worry about
when to turn back the clock.
If you want to check the current UTC time, visit the
National Institute of Standards and
Technology. For convenience, the UTC time is also printed at the
bottom of each page of this web site.
May I include these images on my personal web site?
Sorry, but I won't allow that.
This web site was created to demonstrate the capabilities of my NOAAPort
receive software and LibNNids II weather data processing software for
delivering custom weather data solutions. If the images were just
included in other web sites then the rest of this information wouldn't
be available to the people viewing it. You are welcome to link to this
site, but you may not directly include the images in your web site.
The data on this web site is received from a NOAAPort / AWIPS Satellite
Broadcast Network receive system operated by Nick Luther in Oshkosh,
Wisconsin. Redistribution of data from this web site is strictly
prohibited. The web site is driven by software written by Nick Luther,
including the NOAAPort data ingesting software. Follow the Home and
Frequently Asked Questions
links for more information.
Current Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, a/k/a Z-time):
Sunday, 22-Nov-2009 04:21:03 GMT
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