Degrib: NDFD, Weather, and Shapefiles

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Degrib: NDFD, Weather, and Shapefiles

Degrib: Wx-inten shapefile field

In the following table keep in mind:

If there was "No Weather", I didn't care what intensity it was.
The "gray background" weather types were added on 1/20/2004.
Hail was supposedly removed on 8/12/2004, but I left its place in the table.
With version 1.60 (8/24/2004), I introduced "Unknown Intensity" values. The reason I introduced them was that the weather string seems to change over time. I wanted to be able to encode that I didn't recognize the intensity. Prior to that, the table did not have the "Unknown Intensity" values, so "BD" used to start with 6 instead of 7.

Value	Abreviation	English translation
0	<NoWx>	"No Weather"
1	K:<NoInten>	"Smoke"
2	K:--	"Very Light Smoke"
3	K:-	"Light Smoke"
4	K:m	"Moderate Smoke"
5	K:+	"Heavy Smoke"
6	K:?	"Unown Intensity Smoke"
7	BD:<NoInten>	"Blowing Dust"
8	BD:--	"Very Light Blowing Dust"
9	BD:-	"Light Blowing Dust"
10	BD:m	"Moderate Blowing Dust"
11	BD:+	"Heavy Blowing Dust"
12	BD:?	"Unown Intensity Blowing Dust"
13	BS:<NoInten>	"Blowing Snow"
14	BS:--	"Very Light Blowing Snow"
15	BS:-	"Light Blowing Snow"
16	BS:m	"Moderate Blowing Snow"
17	BS:+	"Heavy Blowing Snow"
18	BS:?	"Unown Intensity Blowing Snow"
19	H:<NoInten>	"Haze"
20	H:--	"Very Light Haze"
21	H:-	"Light Haze"
22	H:m	"Moderate Haze"
23	H:+	"Heavy Haze"
24	H:?	"Unown Intensity Haze"
25	F:<NoInten>	"Fog"
26	F:--	"Very Light Fog"
27	F:-	"Light Fog"
28	F:m	"Moderate Fog"
29	F:+	"Heavy Fog"
30	F:?	"Unown Intensity Fog"
31	L:<NoInten>	"Drizzle"
32	L:--	"Very Light Drizzle"
33	L:-	"Light Drizzle"
34	L:m	"Moderate Drizzle"
35	L:+	"Heavy Drizzle"
36	L:?	"Unown Intensity Drizzle"
37	R:<NoInten>	"Rain"
38	R:--	"Very Light Rain"
39	R:-	"Light Rain"
40	R:m	"Moderate Rain"
41	R:+	"Heavy Rain"
42	R:?	"Unown Intensity Rain"
43	RW:<NoInten>	"Rain Showers"
44	RW:--	"Very Light Rain Showers"
45	RW:-	"Light Rain Showers"
46	RW:m	"Moderate Rain Showers"
47	RW:+	"Heavy Rain Showers"
48	RW:?	"Unown Intensity Rain Showers"
49	A:<NoInten>	"Hail"
50	A:--	"Very Light Hail"
51	A:-	"Light Hail"
52	A:m	"Moderate Hail"
53	A:+	"Heavy Hail"
54	A:?	"Unown Intensity Hail"
55	FR:<NoInten>	"Frost"
56	FR:--	"Very Light Frost"
57	FR:-	"Light Frost"
58	FR:m	"Moderate Frost"
59	FR:+	"Heavy Frost"
60	FR:?	"Unown Intensity Frost"
61	ZL:<NoInten>	"Freezing Drizzle"
62	ZL:--	"Very Light Freezing Drizzle"
63	ZL:-	"Light Freezing Drizzle"
64	ZL:m	"Moderate Freezing Drizzle"
65	ZL:+	"Heavy Freezing Drizzle"
66	ZL:?	"Unown Intensity Freezing Drizzle"
67	ZR:<NoInten>	"Freezing Rain"
68	ZR:--	"Very Light Freezing Rain"
69	ZR:-	"Light Freezing Rain"
70	ZR:m	"Moderate Freezing Rain"
71	ZR:+	"Heavy Freezing Rain"
72	ZR:?	"Unown Intensity Freezing Rain"
73	IP:<NoInten>	"Ice Pellets (sleet)"
74	IP:--	"Very Light Ice Pellets (sleet)"
75	IP:-	"Light Ice Pellets (sleet)"
76	IP:m	"Moderate Ice Pellets (sleet)"
77	IP:+	"Heavy Ice Pellets (sleet)"
78	IP:?	"Unown Intensity Ice Pellets (sleet)"
79	S:<NoInten>	"Snow"
80	S:--	"Very Light Snow"
81	S:-	"Light Snow"
82	S:m	"Moderate Snow"
83	S:+	"Heavy Snow"
84	S:?	"Unown Intensity Snow"
85	SW:<NoInten>	"Snow Showers"
86	SW:--	"Very Light Snow Showers"
87	SW:-	"Light Snow Showers"
88	SW:m	"Moderate Snow Showers"
89	SW:+	"Heavy Snow Showers"
90	SW:?	"Unown Intensity Snow Showers"
91	T:<NoInten>	"Thunderstorms"
92	T:--	"Very Light Thunderstorms"
93	T:-	"Light Thunderstorms"
94	T:m	"Moderate Thunderstorms"
95	T:+	"Heavy Thunderstorms"
96	T:?	"Unown Intensity Thunderstorms"
97	BN:<NoInten>	"Blowing Sand"
98	BN:--	"Very Light Blowing Sand"
99	BN:-	"Light Blowing Sand"
100	BN:m	"Moderate Blowing Sand"
101	BN:+	"Heavy Blowing Sand"
102	BN:?	"Unown Intensity Blowing Sand"
103	ZF:<NoInten>	"Freezing Fog"
104	ZF:--	"Very Light Freezing Fog"
105	ZF:-	"Light Freezing Fog"
106	ZF:m	"Moderate Freezing Fog"
107	ZF:+	"Heavy Freezing Fog"
108	ZF:?	"Unown Intensity Freezing Fog"
109	IC:<NoInten>	"Ice Crystals"
110	IC:--	"Very Light Ice Crystals"
111	IC:-	"Light Ice Crystals"
112	IC:m	"Moderate Ice Crystals"
113	IC:+	"Heavy Ice Crystals"
114	IC:?	"Unown Intensity Ice Crystals"
115	IF:<NoInten>	"Ice Fog"
116	IF:--	"Very Light Ice Fog"
117	IF:-	"Light Ice Fog"
118	IF:m	"Moderate Ice Fog"
119	IF:+	"Heavy Ice Fog"
120	IF:?	"Unown Intensity Ice Fog"
121	VA:<NoInten>	"Volcanic Ash"
122	VA:--	"Very Light Volcanic Ash"
123	VA:-	"Light Volcanic Ash"
124	VA:m	"Moderate Volcanic Ash"
125	VA:+	"Heavy Volcanic Ash"
126	VA:?	"Unown Intensity Volcanic Ash"
127	ZY:<NoInten>	"Freezing Spray"
128	ZY:--	"Very Light Freezing Spray"
129	ZY:-	"Light Freezing Spray"
130	ZY:m	"Moderate Freezing Spray"
131	ZY:+	"Heavy Freezing Spray"
132	ZY:?	"Unown Intensity Freezing Spray"
133	WP:<NoInten>	"Water Sprouts"
134	WP:--	"Very Light Water Sprouts"
135	WP:-	"Light Water Sprouts"
136	WP:m	"Moderate Water Sprouts"
137	WP:+	"Heavy Water Sprouts"
138	WP:?	"Unown Intensity Water Sprouts"
139	?:<NoInten>	"Unknown Weather"
140	?:--	"Very Light Unknown Weather"
141	?:-	"Light Unknown Weather"
142	?:m	"Moderate Unknown Weather"
143	?:+	"Heavy Unknown Weather"
144	?:?	"Unown Intensity Unknown Weather"

Degrib: Cover shapefile field

In the following table keep in mind:

The "blue font" coverage types were added on 8/13/2004.

Value	Abreviation	English translation
00	<NoCov>	"No Coverage/Probability"
01	Iso	"Isolated"
02	Sct	"Scattered"
03	Num	"Numerous"
04	Wide	"Widespread"
05	Ocnl	"Occasional"
06	SChc	"Slight Chance of"
07	Chc	"Chance of"
08	Lkly	"Likely"
09	Def	"Definite"
10	Patchy	"Patchy"
11	Areas	"Areas of"
12	Pds	"Periods of"
13	Frq	"Frequent"
14	Inter	"Intermittent"
15	Brf	"Brief"
16	<unknown>	"Unknown Coverage"

Degrib: Hazard shapefile field

There are 5 hazards per word, and prior to Aug 2004, there was 9 types of hazards, so each hazard was given a digit (see table below). The digits were sorted, and the result was stored in the Hazard field for a given word. Example: "SmA,DmgW" became "54000", which after it was sorted became "00045", which was stored.

After Aug 2004, there were 12 types of hazards so we needed 2 digits per hazard. Our previous example would be "0504000000" which would then be stored as "0000000405".

In the following table keep in mind:

The "blue font" hazard types were added on 8/13/2004.
OR, MX, Mention, Primary are not hazards, so I chose to map them to "None".
The current method is limited to 25 hazards. The code can be modified to handle more, but currently it is limited to 25.

Value	Abreviation	English translation
00	<NoCov>	"None"
01	FL	"Frequent Lightning"
02	GW	"Gusty Winds"
03	HvyRn	"Heavy Rain"
04	DmgW	"Damaging Winds"
05	SmA	"Small Hail"
06	LgA	"Large Hail"
07	OLA	"Outlying Areas"
08	OBO	"On Bridges and Overpasses"
09	OGA	"On Grassy Areas"
10	Dry	"Dry"
11	TOR	"Tornado"
12	<unknown>	"Unknown Hazard"
00	Mention	"Include Unconditionally"
00	Primary	"Highest Ranking"
00	MX	"Mixture"
00	OR	"Or"


Page last Modified: March 04, 2005.
US Dept of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service Meteorological Development Laboratory	1325 East West Highway Silver Spring, MD 20910 Degrib Questions? Arthur Taylor NDFD Questions? nws.ndfd@noaa.gov XML Questions? Paul Hershberg & John Schattel	Disclaimer Privacy Policy