This script set gets METAR data from aviationweather.gov and formats a placefile for GRLevelX software to display icons for weather conditions/sky conditions, wind barbs for wind direction/speed, and mouse-over popups with text for the current METAR report from the station.
Two scripts are to run via cron to gather the data routinely (get-aviation-metadata.php, get-aviation-metars.php).
Note: the original get-metar-metadata.php script is deprecated and replaced by get-aviation-metadata.php as the data file for the original script is no longer available.
The metar-placefile.php script is to be accessed by including the website URL in the GRLevelX placefile manager window.
This script reads the stations.cache.xml.gz file from aviationweatherr.gov and merges optional updates from new_station_data.txt (a comma delimited CSV file) to produce metar-metadata-inc.php which is used by the get-aviation-metars.php program for all the descriptive info about a METAR site.
It should be run daily by cron .. the source file doesn't change very often. If the stations.cache.xml.gz file is not available, the cache file metar-location-raw.txt will be used instead
This script reads the metar.cache.csv from aviationweather.gov and creates the aviation-metars-data-inc.php file which contains the parsed and formatted weather data for each reporting METAR station.
This program requires the following files:
- metar-cond-iconcodes-inc.php (for weather code to iconnumber lookup)
- metar-metadata-inc.php (for details about the METAR ICAO produced by get-aviation-metadata.php)
It should be run by cron every 5 or 10 minutes to keep the data current. Keep in mind that many METAR sites report only once per hour so loading more often won't result in 'new' data.
This script generates a GRLevelX placefile from the aviation-metars-data-inc.php file on demand by a GRLevel3 instance. It will return METAR icons with popup info and wind barb for each METAR within 300 miles of the current radar selected in GRLevel3. It requires the following files:
- metar-cond-iconcodes-inc.php (for weather code to iconnumber lookup)
- aviation-metars-data-inc.php (produced by get-aviation-metars.php for the current METAR data)
The script uses 2 icon files: windbarbs_75_new.png, cloudcover_new.png
If you run the script for debugging in a browser, add ?version=1.5&dpi=96&lat={latitude}&lon={longitude} to
the metar-placefile.php URL so it knows what to select for display.
This file contains the pick_cond_icon() function and lookup tables to determine the iconnumber to
display from the cloudcover_new.png file. It is included in the get-aviation-metars.php and
metar-placefile.php. The get-aviation-metars.php output will report any code not found (with the raw METAR)
to enable adding any missing codes.
Additional documentation is in each script for further modification convenience.
Change the date_default_timezone_set('America/Los_Angeles'); to your timezone in
metar-placefile.php, and get-aviation-metadata.php;
and $ourTZ = 'America/Los_Angeles'; in get-aviation-metars.php
to your timezone if needed.
Upload the following files in a directory under the document root of your website. (We used 'placefiles' in the examples below)
- get-aviation-metadata.php
- get-aviation-metars.php
- metar-placefile.php
- metar-cond-iconcodes-inc.php
- cloudcover_new.png
- windbarbs_75_new.png
Set up cron to run get-aviation-metadata.php like:
1 1 * * * cd $HOME/public_html/placefiles;php -q get-aviation-metadata.php > metadata-status.txt
be sure to change the public_html/placefiles to the directory where you installed the scripts.
Run the script once (to generate data) by https://your.website.com/placefiles/get-aviation-metadata.php
Set up cron to run get-aviation-metars.php like:
*/10 * * * * cd $HOME/public_html/placefiles;php -q get-aviation-metars.php > metar-status.txt
be sure to change the public_html/placefiles to the directory where you installed the scripts.
Run the script once (to generate data) by https://your.website.com/placefiles/get-aviation-metars.php
Then you can test the metar-placefile script by using your browser to go to
https://your.website.com/placefiles/metar-placefile.php?dpi=96&lat=37.0&lon=-122.0
If that returns a placefile, then add your placefile URL into the GRLevelX placefile manager window.
Sample metar-placefile.php output:
; placefile with conditions generated by metar-placefile.php V1.01 - 01-Jul-2023 - [email protected]
; Generated on Sat, 01 Jul 2023 19:47:39 +0000
;
Title: METAR Surface Observations - Sat, 01 Jul 2023 19:47:39 +0000
Refresh: 7
Color: 200 200 255
Font: 1, 12, 1, Arial
IconFile: 1, 43, 68, 29, 67, windbarbs_75_new.png
IconFile: 2, 15, 15, 8, 8, cloudcover_new.png
Threshold: 999
; generate K06C Schaumburg, Illinois, USA at 41.98,-88.1 at 25 miles N
Object: 41.98,-88.1
Threshold: 999
Icon: 0,0,260,1,1
Icon: 0,0,000,2,1,"Schaumburg, Illinois, USA (41.98,-88.1 elev 797 ft)\n----------------------------------------------------------\nK06C 011935Z AUTO 26003KT 10SM OVC120 27/23 A2984 RMK AO2 T02670232\n----------------------------------------------------------\nOBStime: 01-Jul-2023 12:35pm PDT (19:35Z)\nTemp: 80F (27C)\nDewPt: 74F (23C)\nHumid: 81%\nHeatIdx: 84F (29C)\nWind: W at 3 mph(6 km/h)\nVisib: 10.0 sm (16 km)\nCond: Overcast\nSky: Overcast 12000 ft\nAltim: 29.84 inHg (1010.5 hPa)\nWXcodes: OVC\n----------------------------------------------------------"
Text: -17, 13, 1, 80
Text: -17, -13, 1, 74
Text: -27, 0, 1, 10.0
Text: 17, 13, 1, 1011
Text: 17, -13, 1, K06C
End:
; generate K1H2 Effingham, Illinois, USA at 39.07,-88.53 at 178 miles S
Object: 39.07,-88.53
Threshold: 999
Icon: 0,0,170,1,1
Icon: 0,0,000,2,3,"Effingham, Illinois, USA (39.07,-88.53 elev 571 ft)\n----------------------------------------------------------\nK1H2 011935Z AUTO 17003KT 10SM SCT028 29/23 A2988 RMK AO2 T02930231\n----------------------------------------------------------\nOBStime: 01-Jul-2023 12:35pm PDT (19:35Z)\nTemp: 85F (29C)\nDewPt: 74F (23C)\nHumid: 69%\nHeatIdx: 92F (33C)\nWind: S at 3 mph(6 km/h)\nVisib: 10.0 sm (16 km)\nCond: Partly Cloudy\nSky: Partly Cloudy 2800 ft\nAltim: 29.88 inHg (1011.8 hPa)\nWXcodes: SCT\n----------------------------------------------------------"
Text: -17, 13, 1, 85
Text: -17, -13, 1, 74
Text: -27, 0, 1, 10.0
Text: 17, 13, 1, 1012
Text: 17, -13, 1, K1H2
End:
Special thanks to Mike Davis, W1ARN of the National Weather Service, Nashville TN office for the windbarbs_75_new.png and cloudcover_new.png icon sheets, the METAR weather conditions to icon code mapping, preliminary placefile output example, and for his testing/feedback during development.
Some code in get-aviation-metars.php and metar-cond-iconcodes-inc.php are adapted from https://github.com/pear/Services_Weather/blob/trunk/Weather/Common.php by Alexander Wirtz with Copyright (c) 2005-2011 and is used under the permitted redistribution instructions.
