McIDAS-XCD NEXRAD Update for 2021.1
Information About NWS Radar Updates
This page contains McIDAS-XCD administrator information about new National Weather Service WSR-88D (Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler) products available on NOAAPORT, and ones that will be removed from the data service.
On or around February 2, 2022, the National Weather Service (NWS) changed the public dissemination of NEXRAD radar products via the NOAAPort Satellite Broadcast Network (SBN) per this document: NWS SCN21-96. From this page, Table 1 contains the WSR-88D products and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Headings the NWS will remove from the NOAAPort/SBN service. Additionally, Table 2 shows WSR-88D radar products and WMO headings that the NWS will add to the NOAAPort/SBN service as replacements for the lower resolution versions being removed.
On or around May 10, 2022, a further list of products was scheduled to be removed per this document: NWS SCN22-36. Since these changes have still not fully occurred, the XCD dataset updates still include these directories for now and most likely will be deleted in future updates.
The McIDAS updates to support the higher resolution WSR-88D products include:
- new streamlined datasets in the McIDAS-XCD update
- McIDAS-X updates to the radar servers
- IMGDISP.CORE additions that make it easy to display the new datasets with the appropriate enhancement, maps and color bar
The products with multiple elevation angles were streamlined for consistency. Each one has a dataset name without a numerical suffix, which represents the 0.5 deg elevation angle. For example, the 0.5 degree elevation angle for Base REFlectivity used to be WSR-BREF1, but is now WSR-BREF and WSR-BREF4. This will be a change for users, since scripts need to be changed to use WSR-BREF or WSR-BREF4, and the new IMGDISP.CORE file will need to be on their client machine to get the correct enhancement, maps, and color bar. The complete list of datasets is listed at the end of the instructions.
Installing the NEXRAD Update
- If you are updating to McIDAS-XCD 2021.1, go to the McIDAS-XCD Administrator’s Guide: Upgrading to McIDAS-XCD 2021.1 and complete those instructions first before following the instructions below.
- If you are installing McIDAS-XCD for the first time on the workstation, go to the McIDAS-XCD Administrator’s Guide: Installing McIDAS-XCD 2021.1 for the First Time and complete those instructions first before following the instructions below.
- If you have already installed McIDAS-XCD 2021.1, follow the instructions below.
- Log in as user mcidas
- Download the NEXRAD Update files to /home/mcidas.
Download: mcidas2022_radar_update.sh
Download: mcidas2022_radar_update.tar (updated 23 Jun 2022)
Download: IMGDISP.CORE
- As user mcidas, from the /home/mcidas directory, run the command below to create the /home/mcidas/radarUpdate2022 directory, recompile and install the NEXR servers, and copy the *.BAT files for the updated datasets to /home/mcidas/data.
(Note: this recompiling and installation process could take a few minutes to complete.)
Type: sh ./mcidas2022_radar_update.sh - As user mcadde, run the commands below from a McIDAS-X session to create McIDAS strings named WSRDATA and TDWRDATA that contain the fully expanded paths to the directories that will store the WSR-88D and TDWR data, respectively. These are the same directories that are specified for the values of WSRFILE= and TDWRFILE= in the /home/oper/mcidas/data/NEXRID.CFG file.
Type: TE WSRDATA “/wsr_data_directory_path
Type: TE TDWRDATA “/tdwr_data_directory_path
Example: TE WSRDATA “/home/oper/xcd_data/wsr
Example: TE TDWRDATA “/home/oper/xcd_data/tdwr - As user mcadde, make a backup copy of the file /home/mcadde/mcidas/data/RESOLV.SRV
Type: cp RESOLV.SRV RESOLV.SRV.bak
- As user mcadde, run the command below from a McIDAS-X session to create the updated real-time RADAR, TDWR, and WSR ADDE datasets listed in the tables below. Running this batch file will overwrite any locally-created datasets with names matching those in the batch file.
Type: BATCH UPDATERADAR2022_1.BAT CONT=YES
- Once you’ve installed the NEXRAD Addendum and verified that the new radar products are available in the RADAR/*, TDWR/* and WSR/* datasets, we recommend that you notify your users about the availability of the new data, removal of the discontinued products, and the new IMGDISP.CORE file.
The complete list of new datasets is:
WSR-BREF 99999 Base Refl - elev angle 0.5 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (N0B) WSR-BREF1 99999 Base Refl - elev angle -0.2 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (NXB) WSR-BREF2 99999 Base Refl - elev angle 0-0.2 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (NYB) WSR-BREF3 99999 Base Refl - elev angle 0.3-0.4 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (NZB) WSR-BREF4 99999 Base Refl - elev angle 0.5 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (N0B) WSR-BREF5 99999 Base Refl - elev angle 0.9 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (NAB) WSR-BREF6 99999 Base Refl - elev angle 1.3-1.5 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (N1B) WSR-BREF7 99999 Base Refl - elev angle 1.8 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (NBB) WSR-BREF8 99999 Base Refl - elev angle 2.4-2.5 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (N2B) WSR-BREF9 99999 Base Refl - elev angle 3.1-3.5 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (N3B) WSR-BVEL 99999 Base Vel - elev angle 0.5 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (N0G) WSR-BVEL1 99999 Base Vel - elev angle -0.2 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (NXG) WSR-BVEL2 99999 Base Vel - elev angle 0-0.2 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (NYG) WSR-BVEL3 99999 Base Vel - elev angle 0.3-0.4 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (NZG) WSR-BVEL4 99999 Base Vel - elev angle 0.5 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (N0G) WSR-BVEL5 99999 Base Vel - elev angle 0.9 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (NAG) WSR-BVEL6 99999 Base Vel - elev angle 1.3-1.5 deg .13 nm X .5 deg (N1G) WSR-BVEL7 99999 Base Vel - elev angle 1.8 deg 162nmi (NBU) WSR-BVEL8 99999 Base Vel - elev angle 2.4-2.5 deg 162nmi (N2U) WSR-BVEL9 99999 Base Vel - elev angle 3.1-3.5 deg 162nmi (N3U) WSR-COR 99999 Correlation Coef - elev angle 0.5 deg (N0C) WSR-COR1 99999 Correlation Coef - elev angle -0.2 deg (NXC) WSR-COR2 99999 Correlation Coef - elev angle 0-0.2 deg (NYC) WSR-COR3 99999 Correlation Coef - elev angle 0.3-0.4 deg (NZC) WSR-COR4 99999 Correlation Coef - elev angle 0.5 deg (N0C) WSR-COR5 99999 Correlation Coef - elev angle 0.9 deg (NAC) WSR-COR6 99999 Correlation Coef - elev angle 1.3-1.5 deg (N1C) WSR-COR7 99999 Correlation Coef - elev angle 1.8 deg (NBC) WSR-COR8 99999 Correlation Coef - elev angle 2.4-2.5 deg (N2C) WSR-COR9 99999 Correlation Coef - elev angle 3.1-3.5deg (N3C) WSR-DREF 99999 Diff Reflec - elev angle 0.5 deg 248nmi (N0X) WSR-DREF1 99999 Diff Reflec - elev angle -0.2 deg (NXX) WSR-DREF2 99999 Diff Reflec - elev angle 0-0.2 deg (NYX) WSR-DREF3 99999 Diff Reflec - elev angle 0.3-0.4 deg (NZX) WSR-DREF4 99999 Diff Reflec - elev angle 0.5 deg 248nmi (N0X) WSR-DREF5 99999 Diff Reflec - elev angle 0.9 deg 248nmi (NAX) WSR-DREF6 99999 Diff Reflec - elev angle 1.3-1.5 deg 248nmi (N1X) WSR-DREF7 99999 Diff Reflec - elev angle 1.8 deg 248nmi (NBX) WSR-DREF8 99999 Diff Reflec - elev angle 2.4-2.5 deg 248nmi (N2X) WSR-DREF9 99999 Diff Reflec - elev angle 3.1-3.5 deg 248nmi (N3X) WSR-DU3 99999 User-Selectable Accum - 3hr taken hourly (DU3) WSR-DU6 99999 User-Selectable Accum - 24hr taken at 12Z daily (DU6) WSR-HMC 99999 Hydrometeor Class - elev angle 0.5 deg (N0H) WSR-HMC1 99999 Hydrometeor Class - elev angle -0.2 deg (NXH) WSR-HMC2 99999 Hydrometeor Class - elev angle 0-0.2 deg (NYH) WSR-HMC3 99999 Hydrometeor Class - elev angle 0.3-0.4 deg (NZH) WSR-HMC4 99999 Hydrometeor Class - elev angle 0.5 deg (N0H) WSR-HMC5 99999 Hydrometeor Class - elev angle 0.9 deg (NAH) WSR-HMC6 99999 Hydrometeor Class - elev angle 1.3-1.5 deg (N1H) WSR-HMC7 99999 Hydrometeor Class - elev angle 1.8 deg (NBH) WSR-HMC8 99999 Hydrometeor Class - elev angle 2.4-2.5 deg (N2H) WSR-HMC9 99999 Hydrometeor Class - elev angle 3.1-3.5 deg (N3H) WSR-SDP 99999 Spec Diff Phase - elev angle 0.5 deg (N0K) WSR-SDP1 99999 Spec Diff Phase - elev angle -0.2 deg (NXK) WSR-SDP2 99999 Spec Diff Phase - elev angle 0-0.2 deg (NYK) WSR-SDP3 99999 Spec Diff Phase - elev angle 0.3-0.4 deg (NZK) WSR-SDP4 99999 Spec Diff Phase - elev angle 0.5 deg (N0K) WSR-SDP5 99999 Spec Diff Phase - elev angle 0.9 deg (NAK) WSR-SDP6 99999 Spec Diff Phase - elev angle 1.3-1.5 deg (N1K) WSR-SDP7 99999 Spec Diff Phase - elev angle 1.8 deg (NBK) WSR-SDP8 99999 Spec Diff Phase - elev angle 2.4-2.5 deg (N2K) WSR-SDP9 99999 Spec Diff Phase - elev angle 3.1-3.5 deg (N3K) WSR-SRVEL 99999 Storm-Rel Mean Rad Vel - elev angle 0.5 deg (N0S)
This concludes the instructions for configuring your McIDAS-XCD 2021.1 workstation to file the updated radar products and create the corresponding ADDE datasets.