General Information: As you pass the mouse pointer over an observation, watch or warnings or local storm report, a popup window will appear providing more information as well as updating the data display panel on the right. If the selected station is a fixed station (not a ship) a history of the prior 24 observations will also be displayed in this panel.

There are several options within the program that controls what and how the information is displayed, graphed and reported. They are source, parameter, parameter criteria, time span and unit of measure. Most of these are positioned at the bottom of the display window.

Parameter Options: The user can select ONE parameter to display. This data includes Observed winds, Pressure, Temperature, Dew Point, Relative Humidity, Heat Index, SST (sea surface temperature), Wave heights, observed weather and daily precipitation, High and Low temperatures and High wind speed and wind gusts. High and Low values of temperature and wind are for the prior 18 hours of hourly observations. . Keep in mind that SST and wave heights are only reported by buoys, ships, oil rigs and some coastal locations and observed weather is only reported by METAR stations. In addition, the user can select to also display the Local Storm Reports (LSR) along with the data parameter. If the user wants to only view the LSR reports, they can select the LSR option and NONE (for no parameter display). This is useful when there are numerous LSR reports. 

Time Option: The time criteria set the number of hours to “look back” for an observation. The default is 3 hours. Keep in mind that regardless of the number of observations only the latest one will be displayed on the map. 

Criteria Options: Criteria options are very useful is managing how many stations you view. For each parameter you can define the threshold of when you would like to see the station plotted. For example, with winds, if you set the value to 20, you will only see stations with winds at or greater than 20 knots. This is a great way to reduce any clutter on the map and only see the observation you want to view. This setting is saved from one session to the next. Note… each parameter is handled differently. 

Labels & Font Size: Often when there is a lot of information on the screen, it is useful to turn off labeling of the data. You can still examine the data by passing your mouse over the observation or Local Storm Report. Also, the font size is automatically determined by the program but you can override this by deselecting Auto and choosing the font size you are comfortable with. 

UOM options: Most of the parameters can have their unit of measure changed while viewing. This can be accomplished by simply clicking on the unit description in the upper left of the map or selecting the command bar option. More on toolbar/command bar options below.

MOUSE Options:

Right Click: Right click has several functions.

If you RIGHT CLICK while over an observation point (other than a ship report), you will bring up several powerful options. They include the selections shown below for plotting wind, pressure, temperature / dew point, wave heights (when applicable); exporting data to an Excel spreadsheet or copying the popup report to the clipboard.

Selection of the first group of options results in the plotting of the last 24 hours of data. Excellent for easily viewing trends. See the example below.

Each of these plot windows include the options to Print Graph, Send via email, Save as an image or pdf file, and or copy the image to the clipboard.

If you RIGHT CLICK on a Tornado or Thunderstorm Warning or statement you will have the option to copy the entire statement to the clipboard or Print/E-mail the statement text.

Finally, if you RIGHT CLICK on any open space. .  The first three options will display weather forecast information as determined by the forecast model data.

The first option, Display Forecast Description, will present the 7 day forecast in a descriptive manner for any USA location.

The 2nd option displays a 4 day forecast table in 3 hourly intervals for any location in the world.

The 3rd option displays 2 day forecast in hourly increments for any location in the world.  The first shows Miami, FL and the 2nd shows an area near a typhoon in the Pacific.

You can perform the following options while viewing the forecasts.  The export to excel is only available with the 2nd and 3rd option… and is a good way to share this information.

TOOLBAR Options: 

The toolbar provides additional important capabilities that have to do with saving and sharing of information as well as the programs functionality. These may change with program updates but simply pass your mouse over the command button to find out what it does.

Let’s first look at left set of options. These generally have to do with the sharing and saving of the current display.  

Looking at the icons from left to right

- Exit the program

- Open the Overlay Control Center

- Sends the current image via email

- Puts the current image into the Email Outbox.

- Lets the user view the contents of the inbox.

- Prints the image in color

- Prints the image in grayscale

- Copies the current image to the windows clipboard

- Saves the image to file

- Saves the image to a PDF file

The highlighted options below has to do with the display of information and unit of measure.

Reviewing each highlighted command.

- Hot Button that displays and removes bold State Borders on the map.

- Hot Button that displays (or prevents display) of pop-up information at you move you mouse pointer over an observation

- Changes the displayed parameter’s unit of measure

The highlighted options below are associated with the display of Tornado and Thunderstorm Watches and Warnings.

Looking at the highlighted icon from left to right.

- Hot Button that will display all current active watches and warnings (Tornado and Thunderstorm).

- Hot Button that will only display the active tornado warnings.

- Hot Button that will only display the active severe thunderstorm warnings.

- Hot Button that will only display the active thunderstorm statements.

- Hot Button that will only display the active Tornado watches.

- Hot Button that will only display the active Severe Thunderstorm watches.

- Calendar Icon that allows the user to specify a different past date/time and show the watches and warnings (as selected to the left) that were ACTIVE at that exact time.

The highlighted options below generally have to do with the display of information and creation of reports. We will look at these in some detail.

Let’s review each highlighted command button/icon from left to right. Bolded items will be described in more detail on the following pages.

- Creates a Location Group Observation Report in a PDF preview format.  Select the sorted option if you would like to see the report sorted... a sort prompt is presented to the user allowing the sorting by different parameters.  You can then save, print or share the report.

- Station Report will create a PDF report (preview mode) for all of the stations visible on the map. A sort prompt is presented to the user before the report is created.

- Precipitation Report will create a PDF report (preview mode) for all of the COCORAHS stations that have reported precipitation. The report also includes new snow and snow depth in the winter. For more information on COCORAHS see http://www.cocorahs.org/ .

- LSR Report will create a PDF report (preview mode) for all of the "current" Local Storm Reports as forwarded by the National Weather Service. The report will show all of the reports for the past x hours where x is defined by the value by the "Latest in last" hours field... in the lower right hand portion of the screen.

- Warning Report will create a text based PDF report (preview mode) for all of CURRENT Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Warnings. There is no ability to create a report for past warning statements.

- Centers the map on the selected active tropical cyclone.  This is available if there is an active cyclone anywhere in the world.

- Hot button that displays or hides the Tropical Weather Outlook "alert" areas.

- Hot button to include all world data. If “pressed” (highlighted) then observations around the world are available as opposed to only the northwest hemisphere.

- Zoom in

- Zoom Out

- Re-center the map on the USA

- Help

Location Group Observation Report:

This report, which is available year round, displays the weather conditions (at the closest official weather station) for all of the locations in a selected location group. If you choose the sorted option, the observations will be listed in order of descending wind speed. Locations with wind above 20 knots will be highlighted as well as observations with low pressure or heavy thunderstorms observed. Once displayed, the user has the options to save, share (via email) or print the report. For more information about the data in this report, see Current Weather Observations Data. Keep in mind this report does not include Local Storm Reports. See sample below.

Precipitation Report:

This report, which is available year round, displays the COCORAHS 24 hour reported rainfall that are taken at 7 AM across the country. See http://www.cocorahs.org/ for more information.

LSR Report:

This report, which is available year round, displays all of the Local Storm Reports as forwarded by the National Weather Service for a specified time period . The report will show all of the reports for the past x hours where x is defined by the value by the "Latest in last" hours field... in the lower right hand portion of the screen.

Warning Report:

This report, which is available year round, displays all of the CURRENT Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Warnings. There is no ability to create a report for past warning statements.

Tropical Cyclone Display:

When selecting this option, all active tropical cyclones will be listed in a dropdown type menu. Selecting a storm will center the map area over the tropical cyclone so that you can see the conditions in and around the storm. An example of this is shown below. Keep in mind that in some remote areas, data will be sparse… especially considering that ships tend to avoid these areas. You can return to the USA display by right clicking and selecting “View Country”.

Tropical Weather Outlook “alert” areas:

This “hot button” function allows the user to display the latest Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook “alert” areas. They are color coded based on the probability of development. See the example below. Keep in mind during quiet period of the hurricane season, there are no “alert” areas.

MENU OPTIONS:
While using the current weather observations program, the following options are available:

Exit - Closes this window.

Annotate - The annotate feature here is identical to the one described earlier.

Send - Sends the current image to an Email recipient.

Print - The print options here are the same as those described earlier, except that the fax print option is not available.

Save Image - The save image options here are the same as those described earlier.

Help - Displays help information.

Local Storm Reports:  The local storm reports can be displayed along with a plotted parameter.  However, if there are many storm reports, you may want to select the NONE for the parameter setting to just view the storm reports.  An example of how they are displayed is shown below.

Important note: The weather observation and watch and warnings data is downloaded via the HURRTRAK ONLINE service. It is important that you keep the Hurrtrak Online Timer program active in the system tray. This can be accomplished by setting it in the User Preferences - HURRTRAK ONLINE Automatic polling options.