{"id":648,"date":"2018-12-03T20:49:18","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T20:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/?page_id=648"},"modified":"2026-04-15T19:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T19:20:09","slug":"obs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/software\/x\/capabilities\/obs\/","title":{"rendered":"McIDAS-X Text and Observation Data"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><strong><br \/>\n[ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/software\/x\/capabilities\/satellite\/\">Satellite<\/a> |  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/software\/x\/capabilities\/model\/\">Model<\/a> |  Observation |  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/software\/x\/capabilities\/gis\/\">GIS Apps<\/a> ]<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>McIDAS-X provides a robust suite of application tools for managing, processing, comparing and fusing data. Users access and integrate various data types by displaying images and graphics separately or simultaneously. Current, past and forecast data displays can be animated to monitor changes.<\/p>\n<p>McIDAS-X reads and outputs:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>contours and plots of meteorological data in McIDAS MD, netCDF or text format<\/li>\n<li>observed parameters \u2013 such as temperature, dew point, wind speed and direction, pressure, cloud information, height of pressure surface<\/li>\n<li>derived parameters \u2013 such as equivalent potential temperature, mixing ratio, stability indices, heat index, wind chill index, potential temperature, isentropic surfaces<\/li>\n<li>forecast parameters from Model Output Statistics \u2013 such as temperature, wind speed, probability of snow<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[All examples on this page were created using McIDAS-X software. Some were created by members of McIDAS User Services and some were downloaded from sites listed on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/\">SSEC Web page<\/a> under \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/research\">Research<\/a>\u201d or \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/data\">Images and Data<\/a>\u201c]<\/p>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box-group mcidas-box-group-2-columns \" >\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/interpolation.gif\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/interpolation.gif\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Surface point temperatures and contoured temperatures\" ><\/a><br \/>\nInterpolation of observed, derived, or forecast parameters to derived fields on uniformly spaced grids [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/interpolation.gif\">surface temperatures plotted and contoured<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/wave.jpg\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/wave.jpg\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Global wave heights\" ><\/a><br \/>\nInterpolation of observed, derived, or forecast parameters to derived fields on uniformly spaced grids [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/wave.jpg\">global wave heights<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/RADAR-WW-FL.GIF\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/RADAR-WW-FL.GIF\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Radar data over Florida overlaid with flood and tornado watches\" ><\/a><br \/>\nPlots and listings of weather watches and warnings [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/RADAR-WW-FL.GIF\">watches over Florida NEXRAD composite<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/WWDISP-USA.GIF\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/WWDISP-USA.GIF\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Map of the United States overlaid with watches and warnings\" ><\/a><br \/>\nPlots and listings of weather watches and warnings [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/WWDISP-USA.GIF\"> all watches and warnings in the United States<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/station_model_display.gif\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/station_model_display.gif\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Surface METAR data over Kansas\" ><\/a><br \/>\nStation model displays [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/station_model_display.gif\">surface observations in Kansas<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/fronts.gif\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/fronts.gif\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Satellite data over the United States overlaid with NCEP frontal positions\" ><\/a><br \/>\nFronts from NCEP frontal position products [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/fronts.gif\">fronts and radar over satellite IR composite image<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/UACROSSb.GIF\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/UACROSSb.GIF\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Vertical cross section of theta and theta-e from Texas to Illinois\" ><\/a><br \/>\nCross sections: surface and full vertical isentropic [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/UACROSSb.GIF\">cross-section of theta and theta-e from Texas to Illinois<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/sfcmg-msn.gif\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/sfcmg-msn.gif\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Meteogram showing past weather over Madison, Wisconsin\" ><\/a><br \/>\nTemporal and spatial meteorograms: historical trace of surface and upper air parameters [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/sfcmg-msn.gif\">surface meteorogram<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/skew_T.GIF\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/skew_T.GIF\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Skew-T sounding diagram\"><\/a><br \/>\nThermodynamic diagrams: [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/skew_T.GIF\">skew T\/log-P<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/stuve.gif\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/stuve.gif\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Stuve sounding diagram\" ><\/a><br \/>\nThermodynamic diagrams: [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/stuve.gif\">Stuve<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/linear.gif\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/linear.gif\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Linear sounding diagram\"><\/a><br \/>\nThermodynamic diagrams: [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/linear.gif\">linear<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/emagram.gif\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/emagram.gif\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Emagram sounding diagram\" ><\/a><br \/>\nThermodynamic diagrams: [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/emagram.gif\">Emagram<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/hodo.gif\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/hodo.gif\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Hodograph display showing wind speed and direction with height\" ><\/a><br \/>\n Hodographs: [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/hodo.gif\">vertical wind soundings<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/STREAML.GIF\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/STREAML.GIF\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Streamlines over the midwest\" ><\/a><br \/>\nStreamlines of vector fields [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/STREAML.GIF\">surface winds over Midwest<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/WHEN.GIF\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/WHEN.GIF\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Output of WHEN command which predicts future movement of features, including radar data\" ><\/a><br \/>\nFeature movement prediction [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/WHEN.GIF\">storm movement<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div  class=\"mcidas-box \" >\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-title-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mcidas-box-inner\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/wxtlist.jpg\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/wxtlist.jpg\"\n    width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" alt=\"NOAAPORT text data output to the command window\" ><\/a><br \/>\n Search and display weather text data [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/images\/mcidas_capabilities\/wxtlist.jpg\">NOAAPORT text output<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <script>\n\t\t\t\t$(document).ready(function(){\n\t\t\t\t\t$(\".mcidas-box-group\").children(\"p\").remove();\n\t\t\t\t\t$(\".mcidas-box\").children(\"p\").remove();\n\t\t\t\t});\n\t\t\t<\/script><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ Satellite | Model | Observation | GIS Apps ] McIDAS-X provides a robust suite of application tools for managing, processing, comparing and fusing data. Users access and integrate various data types by displaying images and graphics separately or simultaneously. Current, past and forecast data displays can be animated to monitor changes. McIDAS-X reads and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"parent":435,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-648","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4000,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/648\/revisions\/4000"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/mcidas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}