SFCLIST

Lists surface hourly data from point files.

Format

SFCLIST id1 . . idn nhours [keywords]

Parameters

id1 . . idn	station IDs or states to list; use the two-character state P.O. abbreviations for states; specify either IDs or states, but not a combination; see the Remarks
nhours	number of hours to search for observations starting from the current time and going backwards; use the TIME keyword to specify a range of times; see the Remarks (default=1)

Search Keywords

CO=	co1 . . con		lists observations for all stations in these countries; use CCODE command to list valid country codes; see the Remarks
DATaset=	ADDE point dataset name and position; specify as group/descriptor.position or alias.position where position is a positive integer (absolute position), 0 or a negative integer (relative position), or ALL (default=RTPTSRC/SFCHOURLY.ALL)
DAY=	bday eday		range of days to list; uses the TIME keyword, not nhours parameter to list times (default=current bday)
SELect=	'clause1; clause2; . . ; clausen' finds only the data matching the values in the select clauses; single quotes are mandatory; separate select clauses with semicolons; specify clause as a range or a list using one of the following formats:
		range: list:	parameter [unit] bval eval parameter [unit] val1,val2, . . ,valn
		parameter	point file parameter; you cannot use ID, ST, CO, TIME or DAY in a clause
		[unit]	units for the parameter values; units are optional but must be in square brackets if specified (default=from point dataset)
		bval eval	range of parameter values
		val1, . ., valn	list of parameter values
SPAn=	TIME		lists all data in the TIME keyword range, btime to etime, for each day of the DAY keyword range, bday to eday (default)
	DAY		lists all data from btime on bday through etime on eday
TIMe=	btime etime		range of times to list; overrides nhours parameter (default=current btime)

Output Keywords

OPTion=	o1 . . on optional output fields to display; choose from the following options
	NONE	doesn't display any optional fields (default)
	ALL	displays all optional fields listed below
	CHILL	displays the derived wind chill index, WCI
	CLOUD	displays the first and second non-ceiling cloud parameters, Cld1 and Cld2
	HEAT	displays the derived heat index, HI
	HUMID	displays the relative humidity, RH, and mixing ratio, MIX
	PRECIP	displays liquid precipitation, Pcp, snow depth, Sno, and 24-hour precipitation, P24
	SLP	displays the sea-level pressure, SLP
	STP	displays derived station pressure, STP
	THETA	displays derived potential temperature, Th, equivalent potential temperature, ThE, and wetbulb potential temperature, ThW; displayed in Kelvin regardless of value specified with the UNIT keyword
	VAPOR	displays derived vapor pressure, e, and saturation vapor pressure, es
	VIRTUAL	displays derived virtual temperature, Tv
	WETBULB	displays derived lifted condensation level, LCL, and wet bulb temperature, Tw
CHIlltype=	CURRENT	compute the wind chill values listed with OPT=CHILL using the formula implemented by the National Weather Service in November 2001 (default)
	OLD	compute the wind chill values using the pre-2001 formula
PTYpe=	ALT	use altimeter setting in computations of derived parameters listed in OPT=HUMID, STP, THETA, VIRTUAL and WETBULB options; see the Remarks
	PMSL	use sea-level pressure in computations of derived parameters listed in OPT=HUMID, STP, THETA, VIRTUAL and WETBULB options (default)
SORt=	TIME	sorts output by nominal hour, HH; for each hour, stations are listed alphabetically, regardless of the actual reporting time (default)
	OBTIME	sorts output by the exact time of observation, HHMM; for each time, stations are listed alphabetically
	STN	sorts output alphabetically by station; for each station, observations are listed chronologically
UNIt=	A	lists output in American units: temperatures in Fahrenheit, wind speed and gusts in knots, visibility in miles, cloud heights in 100s of feet, precipitation and snow depth in inches (default)
	M	lists output in metric units: temperatures in Celsius, wind speed and gusts in meters/second, visibility in kilometers, cloud heights in hectometers, precipitation and snow depth in millimeters

Remarks

SFCLIST displays point file data in an easy-to-read format that includes columns for temperature, dewpoint temperature, wind direction and speeds, pressure, visibility, current weather, and cloud ceiling. Special (i.e., nonhourly) observations are indicated by an S in the first column of the output. This data is obtained from the same raw observational text reports displayed by the command SFCRPT, but formatted in columns.

The cloud ceiling (Ceil) field on the right side of the output is displayed as coverage/height. Coverage is listed in eighths; height is listed in hundreds of feet if UNIT=A, or in hectometers if UNIT=M. For example, 3/111 represents 3/8ths cloud coverage at a height of 11,100 feet if UNIT=A, or 11,100 meters if UNIT=M. If OPTION=CLOUD or ALL is specified, the coverage and height values for the first and second non-ceiling levels (Cld1 and Cld2) are also listed.

You must specify at least one station ID, state, or country. Normally, you should not specify a combination of station IDs, states or countries. Because SFCLIST uses a logical AND between different search conditions, only data that satisfies all of the specified conditions is listed. For example, the command SFCLIST KBOS FL will not find any data because Boston (KBOS) is not in the state of Florida; SFCLIST NY CO=AU will not find any data because there is no Australian state with the abbreviation NY. If you specify multiple values for a single search condition however, SFCLIST uses a logical OR to list all data. For example, the command SFCLIST KBOS KMIA lists all data for both Boston and Miami.

When using the nhours parameter, the current time determines which data is listed. For example, if you run the command SFCLIST KMSN 1 between 11:00 and 11:59 UTC, Madison's 11 UTC data is listed. If you run it between 12:00 and 12:59 UTC, the 12 UTC data is listed. If the current time is before 13 UTC (12:55, for example) but the 13 UTC data is available, you cannot list it using nhours; you must specify TIME=13.

In the PTYPE keyword, specify either PMSL or SLP for sea-level pressure pressure, and ALT, ALTM or ALTIM for altimeter setting. The keyword is valid only with the calculated options that contain a pressure value in their equations (OPT=HUMID, STP, THETA, VIRTUAL and WETBULB). Sea-level pressure is the default because it's the correct pressure type for those equations. However, since altimeter setting is usually much more common (than sea-level pressure) in surface hourly reports, you can use it by specifying PTYPE=ALT. But if you do so, be aware that the values of the calculated parameters won't be correct. The amount of error depends on the equation (e.g., mixing ratio values are usually about the same whether using sea-level pressure or altimeter setting) and the station elevation (higher elevations usually result in larger differences).

Examples

SFCLIST TX

This entry lists all surface data for Texas from the past hour.

SFCLIST TX OK KS 2

This entry lists all surface data for Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas from the past two hours.

SFCLIST KMIA KLAX TIME=6 12

This entry lists all surface data for Miami and Los Angeles from 6 to 12 UTC today.

SFCLIST KMSN TIME=0 12 DAY=96100 96105 SPAN=DAY DATASET=CLIMATE/1996

This entry lists all archived surface data for Madison from 0 UTC on day 96100 to 12 UTC on day 96105.

SFCLIST KMSN TIME=0 12 DAY=96100 96105 DATASET=CLIMATE/1996

This entry lists all archived surface data for Madison from 0 UTC to 12 UTC on each day in the range 96100 through 96105.

SFCLIST X 6 CO=IT ES FR

This entry lists all surface data for Italy, Spain, and France from the past six hours.

SFCLIST MS 3 CO=US

This entry is an exception to the rule stated in the Remarks above. It lists all surface data for Mississippi from the past three hours. The CO=US keyword eliminates data from stations in other countries that use MS as the state/province/territory abbreviation. It is rarely necessary to specify the CO keyword when listing data for a U.S. state because very few stations outside the United States use an abbreviation that matches a U.S. state abbreviation.

SFCLIST CO=US SELECT='T[F] -100 -5 ; SPD[KTS] 20 40' OPTION=CHILL

This entry lists surface data, including the wind chill index, for all stations in the United States reporting a temperature below -5°F and wind speed between 20 and 40 knots from the past hour.

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