McIDAS-X User's Guide
Version 2023.1

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WXTLIST

Lists weather text products.

Formats

WXTLIST predprod [keywords]
WXTLIST [keywords]
WXTLIST DIR

Parameters

Keywords

Remarks

Weather text data must reside on a McIDAS-X remote server; it cannot reside on the local server.

The first line of text products received by McIDAS contains WMO information about the data being received. An example of this WMO information line is shown below:

The WMO keyword matches the product header. The WSTN keyword matches the station initiating the report. The DTIME and TIME keywords use the date header to determine matches within their time range.

You must specify at least two characters for the WMO keyword; the simplest search includes only the WMO product code. You can also use wildcard characters and ranges. For example, to list text products that begin with FPUS and have a product number between 1 and 5, specify WMO=FPUS1-5. To list all WMO products that begin with FP, have any country code, and a product number 5, specify WMO=FP??5. To list all FPUS products that contain a 5 as their last digit, specify WMO=FPUS?5. This entry matches on FPUS5, FPUS15, FPUS25, etc.

Many text products sent by the National Weather Service contain an additional line of information. This AFOS/AWIPS information also indicates product and origin. Examples of the AFOS/AWIPS information lines are shown below.

The APRO keyword matches the product header. The ASTN keyword matches the station initiating the report.

Use the APRO, ASTN, WMO and WSTN keywords to significantly decrease your search time. The values specified within each of these keywords are connected with a logical OR. For example, APRO=ZFP SFP matches any product with the AFOS/AWIPS product code ZFP or SFP. The values specified within the MATCH keyword are connected with a logical AND. For example, MATCH= TORNADO WARNING matches any product with the words TORNADO and WARNING.

If you do not specify the TIME and DAY keywords or you specify a single day and/or time with them, then DTIME determines how many hours back in time to search. For example, TIME=12 DAY=340 APR=ZFP uses the default DTIME of 96 and therefore searches from 12 UTC on day 336 through 12 UTC on day 340. Likewise, TIME=12 APRO=ZFP searches backward 96 hours from 12 UTC today. Use the NUM keyword to list more than the first (most recent) match.

If you specify a range of times and/or days with the TIME and/or DAY keywords, then you cannot use the DTIME keyword. For example, DAY=340 TIME=12 18 APRO=ZFP ignores the DTIME default of 96 hours and searches only between 12 and 18 UTC on day 340. Likewise, DAY=305 306 TIME=12 APRO=ZFP also ignores the DTIME default and searches from 12 UTC on day 305 through 12 UTC on day 306. And, DAY=300 306 TIME=21 3 APRO=ZFP searches from 21 UTC on day 300 through 03 UTC on day 306.

Output lines that contain the string(s) specified in the MATCH keyword are highlighted in bright white by default. The highlight color can be changed by specifying -tcolfg15 'color ' in your .mcidasrc file, where color is is the highlight color.

The predefined text products are defined in the files WXUSER.PRD, WXSITE.PRD and WXCORE.PRD. When you request a predefined product, WXTLIST first looks for it in these files on your workstation. If the product is not found on your workstation, the request is sent to the server. If the server cannot find the requested product, you see an error message.

To set up your own predefined products, create the file WXUSER.PRD in any directory accessible from your McIDAS session. Use this file to create names for specific search conditions you use frequently or to add search conditions to existing products.

The format of a line in a personal product file and a sample file are shown below:

# ------------ Personal Product File ------------
MSN_NOWCAST     APRO=NOW ASTN=MKE MATCH=MADISON
DANE_ZONE       PROD=ZONE_FCST ASTN=WI MATCH=DANE
BADNEWS         PROD=TORNADO_WARNING

To add search conditions to a product that is already defined on the server, use the special keyword PROD. Specify PROD as an existing predefined product. You can also use this keyword to give personal alias names to other predefined products.

Use the pound sign (#) in the first column to indicate comment lines. To continue a command on the next line, end the line with a backslash character (\).

Search conditions defined in your personal product file override the keywords you enter in the WXTLIST command. For example, suppose your personal product file contains the following entries:

MILWAUKEE                  WSTN=KMKE
ZONE                       APRO=ZFP

If you enter WXTLIST ZONE APRO=LFP, LFP is ignored because the product ZONE is predefined in your personal product file with the search condition APRO=ZFP.

If you enter WXTLIST MILWAUKEE APRO=LFP, WXTLIST lists products matching both WSTN=KMKE and APRO=LFP.

Examples

WXTLIST

This entry lists the last text product received.

WXTLIST WMO=FP NUM=2

This entry lists the two most recent text products with the FP product code in the WMO product header.

WXTLIST WMO=FOUS

This entry lists the most recent text product with the FOUS product/country code in the WMO product header.

WXTLIST WMO=FOUS14

This entry lists the most recent text product with a FOUS14 WMO product header.

WXTLIST WMO=FOX?60-75 NUM=3

This entry lists the three most recent text products with a WMO product header beginning with FOX, containing one additional character, and having a product ID range of 60 to 75.

WXTLIST WMO=FPUS5 FPUS3 WSTN=KMKE NUM=2

This entry lists the two most recent text products sent from Milwaukee (KMKE) with FPUS5 or FPUS3 WMO product headers.

WXTLIST WSTN=KMKE NUM=50 DTIME=2

This entry lists up to 50 of the most recent products issued out of Milwaukee in the last two hours, regardless of the WMO product header.

WXTLIST MATCH=MADISON

This entry lists the most recent text product containing the string MADISON. Because the APRO, ASTN, WMO and WSTN keywords are not used in this command, the default for DTIME is one hour. Only records from the last hour are searched.

WXTLIST WMO=FOUS14 MATCH=MSN

This entry lists the most recent FOUS14 product that also contains the string MSN. Because this product is issued from Washington DC, MSN does not appear as WMO or AFOS station information. To find the Madison forecast, you must search for the string MSN.

WXTLIST APRO=ZFP SFP ASTN=MN WI NUM=10

This entry lists the 10 most recent text products that are either AFOS products ZFP or SFP and are issued for AFOS stations MN or WI.

WXTLIST APRO=ZFP MATCH='DENSE FOG'

This entry lists the most recent ZFP product that contains the string DENSE FOG. This must be an exact match: the word DENSE, followed by a space, followed by the word FOG.

WXTLIST APRO=ZFP MATCH=DENSE FOG

This entry lists the most recent ZFP product that contains the strings DENSE and FOG. The two words can occur anywhere in the text product.

WXTLIST TORNADO_WARNING

This entry lists the most recent TORNADO_WARNING product.

WXTLIST ZONE_FCST ASTN=WI

This entry lists the most recent ZONE_FCST product issued for AFOS station WI. Because the station name included with the zone forecast for Wisconsin is WI, it must be included in the ASTN keyword. If you specify MKE, the station issuing the report, no match is found.

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