Military Aspects of Weather

Set up the template with your data

The Military Aspects of Weather template comes with sample NAM CONUS data for California in NetCDF format downloaded from NOAA. If you want to look at a different area of the contiguous United States then changes need to be made so the correct data is downloaded. If you want to use your own data, such as Global Forecast System (GFS), further edits are needed.

Change the area of interest

  1. It is assumed the template is installed in the default location of C:\. If not, follow the instructions in the Set up the template in a different location.
  2. To change the download area of interest, the extent variable within the NAMDownload.py script must be changed. The script can be found in (location)\MilitaryAspectsofWeather\Scripts. The coordinates are a bounding box written in sequence of Xmin/Ymin/Xmax/Ymax. The coordinates go counterclockwise from the Greenwich prime meridian in decimal degrees for X and go north from the Equator in decimal degrees for Y. For example, the coordinates for the contiguous United States are -152 12 -49 61.

Changing the data source

If you want to use your own data, customization of the Python scripts is necessary as some of the variables and names have been hardcoded into the scripts. Additionally, the sample data is downloaded using the OpenDAP to NETCDF tool tool within the Multidimensional Supplemental Tools toolbox. If your data is not published in OpenDAP you will need a different tool.

  1. Open the NAM_Download.py script found at (location)\MilitaryAspectsofWeather\Scripts and edit the variables to fit the data you are downloading.
  2. Open the relevant raster functions found at (location)\MilitaryAspectsofWeather\RasterFunctions in ArcMap and edit the definition query, if necessary. This can be accessed by right-clicking on Function Chain and then choosing Properties.
  3. If the raster function uses a Python raster function, the following will need to be done:
      • Open the relevant Python script from (location)\MilitaryAspectsofWeather\Scripts.
      • Change the highlighted parameters to suit your data and save.
      • If you have renamed the Python script, you will have to change its reference in the raster function. This is done by opening the raster function and selecting the Python Raster Function tab and changing the location specified for the Python Module.
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