SFCMG

Displays a surface meteorogram.

Format

SFCMG id nhours [keywords]

Parameters

id	station ID
nhours	number of hours to include in meteorogram; specify the ending time with the TIME keyword (default=24)

Keywords

COLor=	t td p cld win wx pcp vis bg graphics color levels for each meteorogram component: temperature (t), dew point (td), pressure (p), clouds (cld), wind (win), current weather (wx), precipitation (pcp), visibility (vis), background grid (bg) (default=5 4 2 7 3 3 4 3 8)
CRAnge=	min max unit	minimum and maximum cloud levels, and units (min default=0; max default=maximum cloud height; unit default=FT)
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=	ending day to plot (default=current)
EG=	NO	does not erase graphics frame before plotting
	YES	automatically erases graphis frame before plotting (default)
GRA=	graphic frame number to display meteorogram (default=current)
INT=	hour interval for plotting data; see the Remarks (default=1)
LATest=	LEFT	plot the most recent data on the left side of the meteorogram
	RIGHT	plot the most recent data on the right side of the meteorogram (default)
PRAnge=	min max unit	minimum and maximum pressure, and units (min and max default=calculated; unit default=MB)
PTYpe=	ALT	use altimeter setting for pressure values (default)
	PMSL	use sea-level pressure for pressure values
TDAy=	CAL	display the calendar day in the title and day labels (default)
	JUL	display the Julian day in the title and day labels
TIMe=	ending hour to plot (default=current for current day; default=23 if another day is specified with the DAY keyword)
TRAnge=	min max unit	minimum and maximum temperature, and units (min and max default= calculated; unit default=F)
TYPe=	ALL	plot both hourly and special observations (default=plot only hourly observations)
UNIt=	A	plot in American units: visibility in miles and precipitation in inches (default)
	M	plot in metric units: visibility in kilometers and precipitation in millimeters

Remarks

SFCMG displays a meteorogram (time-series plot) of surface hourly data. The meteorogram displays temperature, dew point and pressure traces. It also plots cloud coverage and heights; wind direction, speed, and gusts; current weather; precipitation; and visibility.

To avoid plotting data that overlaps the meteorogram's borders and legends, SFCMG displays an x-axis longer than the plotted data. The fact that the data's starting and ending times fall inside the diagram's borders does not mean data is missing.

SFCMG plots the first weather reported in the weather group. For example, if the weather group consists of heavy snow and blowing snow (+SN, BLSN), only the heavy snow symbol is plotted.

Use the INT keyword to declutter the plotted data. For example, the command below plots every sixth hour of data from 00 UTC on day 97097 through 00 UTC on day 97100.

SFCMG KDCA 72 DAY=97100 TIME=18 INT=6

Without INT=6, every hour's data would be displayed and the wind flags and gusts, weather symbols, precipitation totals, and visibility values would overlap.

Examples

SFCMG KMSN

This entry displays a meteorogram showing the surface data for Madison from the past 24 hours.

SFCMG EGLL 48 UNIT=M TRANGE=0 20 C

This entry displays a meteorogram showing the surface data for London from the past 48 hours. The grid containing the temperature trace ranges from 0° C to 20° C. Visibility and precipitation are plotted in metric units (kilometers and millimeters).

SFCMG KMIA 36 TIME=12 DAY=96105 DATASET=CLIMATE/1996

This entry displays a meteorogram showing 36 hours of surface data for Miami from 00 UTC on day 96104 through 12 UTC on day 96105.

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