Getting Weather Reports and Metar Data

You can obtain governmental weather data for use with your station. This data may be used either as the sole input source, or to complement data obtained by your own weather station. The data is obtained from NOAA based in United States.

To configure Weather Display to collect data from other sources, click on Setup, Setup FTP/Internet/..., FTP/METAR download. Forecasts and warnings are downloaded using anonymous FTP, whereas the METARS are download by a faster HTTP download method.

There are three sections to this setup page:

• Download times
• Weather Reports/Warnings
• METAR downloads

Download times

These times apply to both warning/forecast downloads and METAR downloads.

Weather Reports and Warnings

First, in your web browse, go to the NOAA website and determine the specific file for the area of interest to you. You can select files for different locations to use in Weather Display's setup for state or zone forecasts, etc.

Fill in the blank fields on this page with the host name, directory, and file name to be downloaded.

If you wish, you may click on the "#2 setup" button to specify a second set of warnings or forecasts to be downloaded.

Agencies in other countries also provide similar services, e.g., BOM in Australia.

METAR downloads

METAR is a weather reporting standardized format. METAR weather reports are used by pilots and meteorologists. METAR is the most common format for observational weather data. METAR downloads are easy to setup.

1. In Weather Display Control Panel, click FTP & Connections METAR/NOAA.
2. In the METAR Download section, click a nearby airport/station from the METAR list. It's automatically added to your download list. To remove, select the entry and click Remove selected METAR. You can also manually enter the METAR filename. In the Use this METAR Station ID box, enter the METAR four-letter code followed by the .txt file extension (for example KSEA.txt), and then click >.
3. Repeat for each METAR you want to add. You can setup download for one or multiple.

Note: Many NOAA METARs are now provided in a newer .taf file format. Select the Save as a .txt file as well as a .met file check box.

To use a METAR to update Wundeground, to update your weather icon, or to appear as extra text on the summary image, select that METAR, and then click < so that it appears in the Use this METAR for local sky conditions (and wunderground sky conditions) box. Also, make sure that the check box is selected.

Note: You don't need an web/FTP server or homepage to download METAR or forecasts/warnings.

If you want to have the METAR or forecast/warning visible on your web page, then you must select the Include these text files on my web page check box.

You can also select the check box for Use the METAR to updated WD's main weather condition report. This will also populate the custom tag %weatherreport%. This is useful if your website is using Weather Display's custom tag and you want the METAR's current observation (sunny, light snow, etc.) to appear on your website.

You can select the location where the METAR files are downloaded to (double click), and then to view each file click View, Downloaded METARs (in the Logs section). If you have selected the Use the METAR to updated WD's main weather condition report check box, when you click on the weather icon on the Weather Display screen, the METAR appears in a summarized form (and this image will appear on your website).

To make sure that the METAR on your website is always up-to-date, download it just before your web page is updated. The Weather Display FTP program can process multiple tasks simultaneously. Make sure you turn the switches ON (so they are green) for either the METAR or forecast/warning download.

Finally, use the Test button to see if the METAR you have chosen is actually available and working.

Note: As with all setup pages in the FTP setup, nothing is saved to be used by Weather Display until you click OK or TEST.