Contents

Version 1.67a for 1998.

This is an Internet weather program.  It will access the National Weather Service for weather information from 2853 sites around the world..  For Windows 95

This program is freeware.

By Patrick Dugan

About Weather Update

Using Weather Update

Weather Screen

Options Screen

METAR Screen

State Screen

Warning Screen

Zone Screen

Short Screen

Radar Screen


About

The Weather Update program was written because I wanted an easy way to get local weather without leaving my computer.  I found that the National Weather Service supplied weather information from thousands of airports around the world, so all I had to do was access the information and display it in a simple window.   Over time the program has grown in size and included forecasts along with the basic weather information.  Recently a radar map was added to let you “see what is coming.”  The program is freeware and will remain so.

If you wish to contact me you can email me at either of my two addresses.  The two emails are:

patrickd@getonthe.net and patrickd@usti.com

You can also check out my homepage at:

http://208.142.5.166/pdhome.html

This web page is on a small personal web server.  Although you can download this program from that site it cannot handle very many people.  Your best bet is to download new versions from major distribution sites like www.simtel.net.


Using

When starting Weather Update you should make sure that the various settings are correct.  You can navigate from screen to screen through the small “tabs” located at the top of the program.  The first setting you should change will be the location or airport name that the weather information will be obtained.  Next if you are using a proxy server you will need to place the correct address and port settings in the Internet Options screen.  Pressing the update button on the lower bar will cause the program to begin downloading information.  After the data is collected it will then be displayed.  A “hide” button in the lower bar on the right side will cause the program to reduce to a tray icon.  You can restore the full window by pressing the left mouse button on the tray icon.  By pressing the right mouse button will force the program to update the weather data immediately.  This icon will appear as a small blue square with a picture of a weather vane inside.  By passing your mouse over this icon it will display the location and temperature.  If any weather conditions are reported it will include that as well.  The tray icon will change to “two eyes” while it searches for data.  Once it has completed it will return to the blue and white weather vane.  If for some reason, the program cannot access the information the weather vane will turn from white to red.

This program is intended for casual viewing only.  You should not rely on this program for crucial weather data.  If severe weather conditions develop you should always obtain more immediate information from radio or television.


Weather

This is the main screen that first appears when Weather Update starts.  This screen displays the information gleaned from the METAR report that is provided by the NWS.  The various temperatures, pressure, humidity, etc. are presented.  This information can be examined as it was originally sent by looking at the METAR screen.   The temperature, relative humidity and dew point are listed.  The barometric pressure is listed in inches of mercury and kilopascals.  In the middle of the pressure readings is a small gray box that will contain an “up” or “down” arrow if a pressure tendency has been noted in some direction.  Wind direction and speed are displayed.  The visibility is shown in statute miles and kilometers.  The heat index is displayed whenever the temperature is 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) and above.  The wind chill is displayed if the temperature is 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) and below.  The clouds are reported and conditions regard any weather in the area.  By weather I mean rain, hail, mist, ice, fog, etc.  The report date and time are listed in the upper right of the screen.  Directly below that is the latitude and longitude of the site that the report came from.


Options

The Options screen contains three sub-screens that control the location of the airport that you wish to get data from, various display options and finally Internet options.

The location screen allows you to scroll through a list of  2853 sites all over the world.  You should highlight the location you are interested in.

The display screen has various options that affect how the program gets data and how it is displayed.  The top option is the “Update every…” and allows you to choose how often the data is retrieved.  Typically most sites only update every hour or so, but they can update as often as five minutes.  The “Update on startup” box indicates you want the program to get the data when it starts.  The “Taskbar display Celsius” will cause both the taskbar and tray icon to display the temperature in Fahrenheit or Celsius.  Next the “Get forecasts” option when checked will try to grab the forecasts otherwise it does not try them.  The forecasts (State, Warn, Zone, Short) are only good for the United States, so if you live elsewhere you will normally have this and the next option turned off.  The next option “Get local forecasts only” will attempt to break down the zone and short term forecasts into information that only pertains to the site you have chosen, otherwise it gets statewide information.  “Log Metar” and “Log Forecasts” both write to text files in the current directory that Weather Update resides in.   On the bottom half of the Metar screen you can display, print or delete those log files.  The next option “Get Radar” determines whether the program will try to fetch the radar image.  The “Squeeze/stretch image to window” will stretch out or “squash” the radar image to try to fit the radar screen.  The “Report Time Local” option will print the reported time of the METAR according to your local time, not UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) so you can see how old the report is according to your watch.

There are a few settings that regard the warning screen.  You can choose if you want the program to flash the tray icon and the WARN tab to alert you to possible weather problems in your area.  It can also play a wav file of your choosing when a warning is issued.  The small “right arrow” to the left of the wav filename allows you to preview the sound to see if it seems appropriate.

The upper right hand corner contains options that happen when the program starts.  “Full Size on startup” means the program appears with the Weather screen showing.  “Minimize on startup” allows the program to only be seen in the task bar and tray icon.  Finally the “Tray only,” will cause the program to “start up” only appearing in the system tray.  Passing your mouse cursor over the tray icon or taskbar name will cause the location name, temperature and any weather conditions to appear.

The Internet screen is where you specify sites and directories where the weather information will be downloaded from.  These sites and directory names should not be altered unless you are absolutely certain of the correct settings.   The first is the main FTP site name for the NWS.  The second is the sub-directory where the METAR files are located.  Next is the FTP site for the forecasts.  The last is the address for the radar image displayed in the last screen.  The radar image MUST be a GIF format file.  Some simple Internet searching should provide you with dozens of excellent radar GIF sites, you do not have to use the one listed here.  If you accidentally erase them you can refer to this screen for the correct settings.

If you do make changes to any of the four settings you MUST press the “register new directories” for them to take effect.

The lower part of the screen involves proxy access to the Internet.  If you use a proxy to access the Internet you must supply the correct address and port settings and be sure that you have selected “Use proxy” for the settings to be used.  If you are sure you use a proxy, but you do not know what the correct settings are you should contact the person who set up the proxy server to let you know what the correct settings are supposed to be.  This may not work with all proxies and if not, you can obtain other commercial weather programs that will access the weather through a proxy.

Unfortunately the proxy settings have not been tested with this program.  Since I have no access to a proxy server I was unable to test this.  I apologize if it does not work correctly.


METAR

This screen displays the decoded METAR report from the National Weather Service.  This is the file as it appears from the NWS.  Weather Update breaks it down a little further, but primarily it's the same thing you will see on the Weather screen.

The lower portion of the screen regards the log files that can be created.   The logging of these files can be turned on the display options screen.  Here you can examine, print or delete the files.


State

This screen will display the state forecast for the location you specified.  You can also print the state forecast from this screen.  Again the forecasts are only for the United States.


Warn

This screen will display the state warning for the location you specified.  Typically you will not see any information displayed here unless a weather warning has been issued for that state.  You can also print the state warning from this screen.  If a warning has been issued the program can play a wav file to give you an audio alert and can also flash the tray icon and “Warn” tab.  Again the forecasts are only for the United States.


Zone

This screen will display the zone information that can be local or state information according to the setting in the display options.  The zone is essentially the “long term” forecast for the next few days.  You can also print the zone forecast from this screen..  Again the forecasts are only for the United States.


Short

This screen will display the short term information that can be local or state information according to the setting in the display options.  The short is essentially the “short term” forecast for the current day.  You can also print the short forecast from this screen..  Again the forecasts are only for the United States.


Radar

This screen will display a radar image from any site you indicate in the Internet options screen.  This image can only be a GIF format file.  A radar site is provided with the program but you can easily specify your own preferred site.   In fact any GIF image available from the Internet can be used here.  You could even supply a cartoon site rather than the radar image if you so desired.  The URL used should end with the GIF extension.