(banner courtesy of Kevin McBride)
NEW!!!!!! WINGRIDDS Blog: http://wingridds.blogspot.com/
Home of WINGRIDDS and PCGRIDDS32
What are WINGRIDDS and PCGRIDDS32???
WINGRIDDS is a Microsoft Windows 32-bit implementation of the DOS-based PCGRIDDS written by Dr. Ralph Petersen and Jackie Lord, both of who work for the National Weather Service but Dr. Petersen has since retired. Dr. Petersen was gracious enough to give me, Jeff Krob, the code and allow me to create WINGRIDDS/PCGRIDDS32.
PCGRIDDS32 is a 32-bit program, however, it is not a full Windows, ‘point-and-click’ GUI program. PCGRIDDS32 stands for Personal Computer based GRidded Interactive Display and Diagnostic System. WINGRIDDS is the full MS Windows compliant ‘point-and-click’ GUI version which stands for WINdows based GRidded Interactive Display and Diagnostic System. With the release of WINGRIDDS, PGRIDDS32 development has frozen and will not be enhanced or improved in any way.
WINGRIDDS/PCGRIDDS32 is a software package that allows the user to view meteorologically significant fields of gridded observation analysis and numerical weather prediction model output (GRIB files). The fields are displayed in either contour or vector format, whichever is appropriate for a particular field. This package also allows the user to extract a variety of information from numerous meteorological diagnostic parameters computed from the gridded data fields.
The flexibility of WINGRIDDS allows the package to meet the needs of users with a wide range of skills and requirements. The novice can quickly learn to display a wide variety of predefined products using the WINGRIDDS Menu system. More advanced users can develop specialized products to meet their individual needs using the programmable WINGRIDDS Command language, including the creation of customized menu options to meet specific user needs.
This page is, at the time, very basic and is my first try at Web authoring. This will be the central place where updates to WINGRIDDS are released so stay tuned!! WINGRIDDS has been and will be freeware.
Thank you for your support and pass the word about WINGRIDDS!!!
Jeff Krob
NOAA/NESDIS
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DONATIONS
This is something new...I am collecting money to purchase an upgrade to a software package I use in developing WINGRIDDS . Up to this point, I have purchased the majority of the software development packages on my own with my own funds. I use a program called Winteracter to build all of the Windows Point-and-Click GUIs as well as the Contouring Fill & Shading graphics. I am using Version 8 and a new version of Winteracter, version 9, has just been released ( see http://www.winteracter.com/ ). I need $250 for the upgrade so I am asking for your assistance.
**** NOTICE**** This is to announce the goal has been reached & I was able to purchase the new version of Winteracter!! I wish to thank all who contributed to the cause. This does not mean, however, that donations are no longer needed. New programming tools are released all the time and they cost money and I am doing all of this work out of my own time and money in addition to any donations.
Please feel free to donate as you see WINGRIDDS has been beneficial to you. Remember, WINGRIDDS is FREEWARE!!!
Thank you for your support!!
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DOWNLOADS
WINGRIDDS v3.0 has been released!!! See below the images for download information.
Here are some teaser screen shots of what WINGRIDDS can do...(click for full images)
FYI - Here is a zipped file many have asked for containing the command macros & color look-up-tables used to create some of the screen shots used above (Thanks Kevin McBride!!)
WINGRIDDS Version 3.1
This is the release of WINGRIDDS Version 3.1. This is a major release with many improvements over Version 2 and updates to WINGRIDDS Version 3.0. The WINGRIDDS Users Guide has a tutorial to guide you through the new operations. As you can see from the screen shots, there have been major additions to WINGRIDDS operations:
1) WINGRIDDS can now display and animate Sounding (Skew-T, Telphigram & Stuve plots) and Hodograph plots of both model and observation grid-point data.
2) WINGRIDDS can process and display forward and backward Trajectories on both pressure and isentropic surfaces.
3) WINGRIDDS now has MS Windows-standard configuration settings through a 'Properties' dialog.
4) WINGRIDDS can now process and display Ensemble Probabilities GRIB data from NCEPs SREF model.
5) WINGRIDDS can now process and display native RUC (Rapid update Cycle) Hybrid-B surfaces.
6) WINGRIDDS can now create BUFKIT data files on Station ID, Lat/Lon or Grid-point locations.
7) WINGRIDDS can now display both the standard and Hi Rez NCEP-issued ASUS Frontal Position data files.
If you were not up-to-date with WINGRIDDS v3.0, it is best to just uninstall the WINGRIDDS version you have, download the complete installation & reinstall. Of course, if you are a PCGRIDDS32 user or are new to the whole program, just download the complete installation file and follow the installation directions in the WINGRIDDS User Guide.
So give it a try and see the future of GRIB display and diagnostics!!
WINGRIDDS Version 3.1 Complete Installation File
WINGRIDDS Version 3.0 + 3.1 Release Notes.doc
WINGRIDDS Version 3.2 Update 01-01-2010
This is to announce the release of WINGRIDDS Version 3.2. This is an update and bug fix to WINGRIDDS version 3.1. The executable files are to be unzipped into the WINGRIDDS directory. Please read the Release Notes completely before installing the updates. Remember, this is only an update to a previously installed WINGRIDDS 3.1.
My thanks to Bruce Becker for updating more of the GRIB file download scripts for the GFS model and to all the folks who participated in the Beta Testing. As always, if you run into any problems with the updated files, please let me know.
WINGRIDDS Version 3.2 Executable Files
WINGRIDDS Version 3.2 Release Notes
WINGRIDDS GRIB Ingester Updates 12-01-2010
This is to announce the release of updated WINGRIDDS GRIB ingester utilities NGRB2PCG32 & GRIB2PCG32. There were several bugs reported & I took the opportunity to update the GRIB2 processing software libraries to bring them up-to-date with the NCEP releases. Please read the Release Notes for full info. Happy Holidays!!!
WINGRIDDS GRIB Ingester Executables
WINGRIDDS GRIB Ingester Release Notes
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WINGRIDDS v4.0 Beta Testing
This is to announce the start of a new testing phase for the lead-up to the release of WINGRIDDS v4.0. This release will have some new exciting features which continue to push the capabilities of WINGRIDDS in it's ability to analyze and diagnose meteorological data. This release will have the ability to remap gridded data to customized user-defined grid mappings, ingest and process NCEP BUFR-based observation data, enhanced data download scripting to expand the data download capabilities from the Internet as well as other improvements from the original PCGRIDDS. To participate in this testing, you need to have installed the latest operational version of WINGRIDDS v3.2. As a note of caution, with the changes in the download scripting, the files included in the "WINGRIDDS Beta 7.0 Additional Data Files.zip" file (which is required, by the way) will replace nearly all of the original download scripts and the new scripts will be incompatible with the current download utility URL2FILE so, if you wish to revert back to the current WINGRIDDS operations, those old files need to be saved prior to installing the new installation files. All of the zip files need to be unzipped into the current WINGRIDDS directory. As always, please read the Release Notes for full info.
WINGRIDDS Beta 7.0 Additional Data Files.zip (required) ***UPDATED TO SUPPORT Version 7.2 ***
WINGRIDDS Beta Version 7.3 Files 11-27-2011
WINGRIDDS Beta 7.3 Release Notes.doc
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WINGRIDDS Documentation
WINGRIDDS Documentation (online)
(If Needed)
Microsoft Installer 2.0 for Win 95, 98, ME
Microsoft Installer 2.0 for Win NT, 2000, XP
There are situations when the WINGRIDDS Download utility URL2FILE.EXE is flagged by security scans as a virus or an infected file. URL2FILE is a free upload/download utility available on the Internet at http://www.chami.com/free/url2file_wincon.html . The file is a clean and safe program *however* it is often used along with malicious viruses, spyware, malware, etc. to do transfers to/from the victims computer. It has therefore been labeled as a bad file but it is a case of "guilty by association". If there are situations where the WINGRIDDS copy is deleted by security-scanning software, feel free to either download the replacement copy from its home site or from the WINGRIDDS link below. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience this issue may cause.
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PCGRIDDS32 Version 3.3
PCGRIDDS32 V 3.3 is the latest operational release of PCGRIDDS32. This release, which is a culmination of the previous beta testing, incorporates two major improvements as well as many bug fixes. The two improvements are 1) GRIB2 file processing for GRIB2PCG32, NGRB2PCG32 and NMOSGRB2PCG32 and 2) Ensemble GRIB processing for GRIB2PCG32 and NGRB2PCG32. Please read the release notes for details concerning these improvements as well as the listing of bug fixes.
To install the PCGRIDDS32 Complete file, download the zip file and, using Winzip or some other unzip program, unzip the file from the root directory on the hard drive which you wish to operate PCGRIDDS32 from. While unzipping the file, the directory PCGRIDDS32 and all subdirectories will be created.
To install the PCGRIDDS32 Executable zip file, download the zip file and, using Winzip or some other unzip program, unzip the file from within the PCGRIDDS32 directory.
Enjoy!!
PCGRIDDS32 V3.3 04-04-2007 Complete
PCGRIDDS32 V3.3 04-04-2007 Executables
Hi Resolution Maps (Restored!!!)
PCGRIDDS32 Utilities Update 01-10-2008
For all you die-hard PCGRIDDS32 fans out there, an updated version PCGRIDDS32 GRIB ingest utilities (NGRB2PCG32, NMOSGRB2PCG32 & GRIB2PCG32) is available. All of the GRIB ingest utilities have been converted to handle GRIB2.
On 01-08-2008, the NWS GRIB ingestor NGRB2PCG32 needed a quick bug fix for proper operation dealing with GRIB2 grid 003 (Global Lat/Lon) data being up-side-down.
On 01-10-2008, the WAFS GRIB ingestor GRIB2PCG32 needed an emergency bug fix for proper operation dealing with WAFS GRIB2 messages which were less than 1000 bytes and causing the utility to crash.
Download the PCGRIDDS32 Utilities file for the new version.
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PCGRIDDS32 Documentation
PCGRIDDS32 Documentation (online)
Thanks to Mike Davison at NCEP International Desk for providing these Spanish translations:
Spanish PCGRIDDS32 Release Notes
Spanish GRIB2PCG32 Release Notes
Spanish NGRB2PCG32 Release notes
GRIB Files:
I'm sure this question "...where do I get GRIB files from?" will come up at some point. Below are pointers to the various NWS/NCEP FTP Servers where NWS GRIB files can be downloaded. For information concerning the GRIB file naming convention, go to:
For information describing the model datasets available on the NCEP and OOS (NWS) Servers, go to:
http://strc.comet.ucar.edu/gribmaster/modeldatasets.htm
NWS GRIB
ftp://ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com
ftp://weather.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.opnl
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.opnl
WAFS GRIB
ftp://weather.noaa.gov/SL.us0080001/ST.opnl/MT.gfs_CY.{CC}/RD.{YYYYMMDD}/PT.grid_DF.gr1
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us0080001/ST.opnl/MT.gfs_CY.{CC}/RD.{YYYYMMDD}/PT.grid_DF.gr1
Search for a file name of fh.###_tl.press_ar.octant* where '###' is forecast hour and '*' is the octant letter (I-P)
ftp://ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/gfs/prod/gfs.{YYYYMMDDHH}
Search for a file name of wafs_*_tHHz_intdesk### where '###' is forecast hour, '*' is the octant letter (I-P) and
"HH" is the model run hour.
WAFS ENSEMBLE GRIB
ftp://ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/mrf/prod/ens.{YYYYMMDD}
Search for a file name of wafs_*_tHHz_ens### where '###' is forecast hour, '*' is the octant letter (I-P) and
"HH" is the model run hour.
Canadian Meteorological Center (CMC) GRIB Data Here is the CMC Web site with detailed information on where to access Canadian Meteorological Center (CMC) GRIB data: http://www.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/grib Grib data is available for regional, global and ensemble models. As of early 2010 datasets are in GRIB1. There are plans to eventually transition all datasets to GRIB2.
Both GRIB1 and GRIB2 datasets can be viewed using WINGRIDDS using the helpful hints below. Helpful hints for viewing CMC regional, global and ensemble GRIB data with WINGRIDDS (1) Once WINGRIDDS is properly installed add the following lines: 036 RGL 047 GLB 071 CMC to the content of the file c:\wingridds\GRIB\GRIBMODL.DAT The number [036,047,071] is used the identify the Canadian [regional, global, ensemble] model. I used RGL GLB and CMC here but you could use your own letters
to describe these models. (2) Add the following line 255 A CMC to the content of the file c:\wingridds\GRIB\GRID.DAT (3) Put CMC GRIB data files into directory C:\wingridds\GRIB\NWS (4) Start WINGRIDDS and using appropriate menus, decode the data into WINGRIDDS data format (5) Your CMC GRIB data should now be available for viewing. For CMC GRIB datasets only: If after having reading the user information at: http://www.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/grib you still require more information on CMC GRIB
datasets, send an email to: production-info (at) cmc.ec.gc.ca
Email Support:
(spam blocker...replace 'at' with '@')
Jeffrey.A.Krob at noaa.gov
Last updated on: 11-27-2011