I've just never used it and would like to know as much about it as possible before buying it, to make sure its what I really want.īTW, thanks Patrick for mentioning the OU Hoot page.
Again, please excuse all of my questions about this software.
If I were to have an interest in this GEMPAK software, how do I go about obtaining it? I assume this is software I'll have to buy, even though my Google search seemed to indicate that you could download it free from Unidata, provided you meet their guidelines for non-profit, educational use, etc.Īnd finally, what exactly can GEMPAK do? Is this a program that basically plots everything for you, draws the contours, frontal boundaries, etc? Or does it allow the user to manually do that stuff as well? Again, I would actually like to be able to do all the work myself if I choose (especially at first) because I truly want to master the process of hand analysis.
That probably means they can do a ton of stuff.
That said, both will likely require a great deal of learning on my part just to be able to understand how to use all of their abilities. I went and looked at both Digital Atmosphere and GEMPAK to try to get a feel for what they can do. Thanks for the recommendations so far guys. I would even be willing to even use regional type maps if those are available as a solution, provided they are large enough in total area to display most of the relevant storm system info.Īnyone else encountered this problem? Anyone have any solutions? Or am I pretty much SOL unless I go out and buy a new laser or Ink Jet printer? But it just seems I am having trouble finding usable online plotted maps that are large enough to read, while being small enough to work on standard size paper. That would be pretty discouraging because I really want to be able to practice these skills I've been learning from Tim V's books, various websites and friends who have provided some great tips. So how do you folks go about the task of hand analysis without using special equipment? I really hope there is some sort of working alternative besides having to go out and buy a new printer and yet another type of paper just to be able to perform this function. And if it's sized where it will properly print on 11x8.5 paper, the detail (temps, dew points, pressure, etc) is too fine to read. There's simply too much data and too little room in which to print it and have anything that's large enough to be practical that will fit the screen. And I am finding that I can't get a usable map (especially the sfc maps) using standard size paper. You see, I don't have a printer compatible with the larger 11x17 size paper required to properly use those. Let me start out by saying I have reviewed those on SPC's site, as well as those available from COD.