Improvements to Experimental Forecast Images
By Mark Reschke
ITO National Weather Service Caribou
Our Experimental Forecast Images changed in August, 2003.
These images are a set of map-based
graphics that show the various elements of our weather forecast. They are experimental
because their evaluation period ends
The substantive change to the images’ presentation that happened in August was the addition of 6 elements from our Marine and Fire Weather forecasts, like wave height and lightning activity level. Though admittedly designed for the limited audience of our maritime and forestry customers, these new images fill a vacuum that existed for them.
For the rest of you, the addition of maps for Snow Amount and Wind Chill (in October) is the only real modification of interest. The rest of the changes are cosmetic: improvements were made to ease your use of the interface. This interface has also been standardized across the Eastern Region so that no matter which of our Weather Offices you visit on the web, the presentation will act the same.
Here’s a quick How To guide.
The Experimental Forecast Images can be accessed from our home page (www.erh.noaa.gov/car). Once our home page is displayed, simply click on the map of our forecast area as indicated by the outline in red below.
That mouse click will display this:
The three most important navigational elements are circled in color on the graphic above.
|
Color |
Discussion |
|
Red |
Simply position your mouse over the times listed in this
section of the table and the map image on the right will change
(corresponding to the time you choose). In the example above, if you mouse
over the If you have a 56K (or less) modem, be patient! Each map image is only 10-50K, but display may still be slow. Let one image completely display before mousing over to the next! |
|
Cyan |
The two left and right buttons at the bottom (circled in cyan) allow you to range over the full time period of the forecast for a given weather element. Begin by mousing over the first time for the weather element of interest. Wait for its map to completely display. Now, carefully, so as not to mouse over any other time, move your mouse left, down, and around to the right (>) button at the bottom of the screen. Click on this button repeatedly and you’ll move forward through the forecast period for the weather element you chose, changing the map image on the right with each click. Once again, be patient. Let each image display fully before clicking again. |
|
Green |
If you don’t understand what a weather element is, simply click on its name and a pop up definition will appear. In the example above, if you click on the word Dewpoint circled in green, a pop-up definition of dewpoint would appear. |
The tabs near the top organize the weather elements for our different customer groups. The Public tab is for you, the general public. The Marine and Fire Weather tabs group the weather elements for these specialized customers. The Public tab is the default, as described above. The Marine tab looks like this (simply click on the word Marine on the tab to bring it up):
The Fire Weather tab looks like this:
Well, that should get you going! These images are updated twice a day: once early in the morning and again late in the afternoon. (The actual update time is shown above the color bar over the map itself).
If you want further help, you can try the Product Description at www.erh.noaa.gov/ershare/pdd/erafipdd/erafipdd.htm. If you really get stuck, email your question to our local web master at carwebmaster@noaa.gov. (One thing to note: the Animate function does not work well over a 56K modem.)
Whether you like what you see or not, you can influence what happens after the evaluation period ends on 31 December by completing a National Weather Service survey.
If you have specific complains about the interface please use the survey in addition to emailing carwebmaster. If you notice that the info displayed is out of date or that things that used to work suddenly stop working, please only email carwebmaster@noaa.gov.