National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Rain and Snow Showers for Mid-Atlantic and Northeast; Increasing Fire Weather Concerns for the Plains

A clipper type system will track across the Northeast today, with a stronger system expected for this first weekend of March. Snow accumulations are expected for portions of the Great Lakes region and New England. Winds will also become gusty across most of the eastern two-thirds of the country this weekend. These winds and low humidity may increase fire weather concerns for portions of the Plains Read More >

WSR-88D CODE

National Program

Archive II Disk Data Files

Weather.gov > WSR-88D CODE > Archive II Disk Data Files

 

Instructions

  1. Select a location for the Archive II Data
    • One possible location is $HOME/ar2data. When the ORPG was installed, three volumes of data were placed into this directory for the purpose of testing the ORPG installation.
    • However, there is an advantage of NOT placing the data into the account home directory. When a new account is established (for a new CODE release or for another development account), the Archive II data will not need to be moved or copied. A suggested location to install all of the desired CODE Archive II data is /opt/code/ar2data.
  2. Download the data of interest to the selected directory. It is recommended that each archive file be expanded within the selected directory. For example,
    tar xvf ap_case.tar
    Each archive file expands into a subdirectory of the same name (for example, ap_case.tar expands into a directory ap_case). Regardless of the location chosen, it is highly recommended to keep the data organized in subdirectories for ease of access.
     
  3. The environmental variable AR2_DIR should be set to the top level directory under which all Archive II data files are placed. For a CODE account, the default value is $HOME/ar2data. The value of this variable (set in .cshrc) can be changed to your selected directory.
  4. Use ORPG utility play_a2 to play back the Archive II data. For example,
    play_a2 -d ap_case
    -d dir_name (dir_name is the volume file directory to play back. The default is $AR2_DIR or current directory).

To find out how to use play_a2, use option "-h": play_a2 -h

Available Archive II Data (for Download)

 

Data Contents Description
ap_case.tar 19 volumes (2.1 hours) from KHGX 10/19/94 (18 MB) Sample including strong storms and anomalous propagation (AP).
b2sys_tst.tar 25 volumes (1.9 hours) from a Norman, OK Site 05/04/2002 (15 MB) Antenna drift case. Large break in data near end.
big_storm.tar 18 volumes (1.9 hours) from KMLB 03/13/93 (26 MB) "Storm of the Century" tape. Severe weather on a N-S line. Good for stress testing.
clear_air.tar 21 volumes (3.2 hours) from KCRI 06/19/1997 (11 MB) Clear air (warm) case.
dummy.tar 13 volumes (1 hour) of a Special "Dummy" Test Case (1 MB) Dummy load data. All data bins in every radial are below threshold.
f_load.tar 24 volumes (1.9 hours) from KOUN 04/21/1996 (46 MB) Baseline performance (full load) test case. Severe weather with mesocyclones and tornados.
isadore.tar 34 volumes (3.1 hours) from KMOB 9/25/2002 (52 MB) Tropical storm Isadore. Induced problems with DPA.
moment.tar 28 volumes (2.9 hours) of a Special "Moment" Test Case (2 MB) Data is predictable in terms of azimuth and range boundaries, so it can be useful when ensuring data is accurately depicted (location and intensity).
ok_tornados.tar 45 volumes (3.7 hours) from KTLX 5/3/1999 (65 MB) Several big tornados in central Oklahoma. There are 2 volume restarts within the first 12 volume scans.
rad_cal.tar 16 volumes (1.5 hours) of a Special Radar Calibration Test Case (1 MB) Bulls-eye data while a radar calibration test is being performed.
sim_storms.tar 21 volumes (1.9 hours) of a Special Old Full Load Test Data (39 MB) Simulated storms taken from an old full load test case. Storms are cylindrical with meso's and tvs's, each moving in constant but different directions. Good for many algorithms where expected results can be quantified.
spot_blank.tar 13 volumes (1.2 hours) from KCRI 06/21/2002 (9 MB) Spot blanking test case.
vcp121winter.tar 37 volumes (3.1 hours) from a Norman, OK Site 8/29/2003 (76 MB) VCP 121. Thunderstorms and long range precip with accumulations and heavy showers.
vcp12winter.tar 42 volumes (3.1 hours) from a Norman, OK Site 2/04/2004 (99 MB) VCP 12. Generally freezing rain and snow north and rain to the south.
vswitch.tar 15 volumes (1.2 hours) from a Norman, OK Site 6/21/2003 (14 MB) Several switches between velocity modes. Use to ensure velocity algorithms / products correctly handle the data. Elevation restart commanded at second elevation of first volume.
vcp211.tar 15 volumes (1.1 hours) from KCRI 8/25/2006 (14 MB) A few light rain showers
vcp212.tar 15 volumes (1 hour) from KCRI 8/27/2006 (34 MB) Nearly stationary widespread rain and thunderstorms
vcp221.tar 12 volumes (1.1 hours) from KCRI 7/13/2006 (10 MB) Small line of storms on eastern edge of coverage
vcp121SR.tar 12 volumes (1 hour) from KCRI 8/19/2007 (75 MB) Super-Resolution data using the message 31 format for basedata. Remnants of Tropical Storm Erin in central Oklahoma.
dual_pol_vcp21.tar 11 volumes (1 hour) from KOUN 10/10/2010 (29 MB) Super-Resolution dual polarization data. Developing line of showers to the west and north.
sails_avset.tar 25 volumes (2 hour) from FOP1 04/23/2013 (234 MB) SAILS and AVSET have been enabled at the RPG.There is a variety of AVSET termination elevation angles.