Convective Development, Inc.

lost information

guy — Sun May 11, 2008 8:32 am

Author: guy

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 8:32 am

Thanks Andrew

can's display F5

wolkomir — Sun May 04, 2008 7:08 pm

Author: wolkomir

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 7:08 pm

Thanks. I'll try that.

<<Mike<<

Sfc-850mb Speed Shear

Andrew Revering — Sat May 03, 2008 2:35 pm

Author: Andrew Revering

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 2:35 pm

Thanks for the note. I was able to recreate the problem and will add the fix in the next release. I'm guessing it doesn't have a color template or something along those lines.

Model Soundings

Andrew Revering — Fri May 02, 2008 2:12 am

Author: Andrew Revering

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 2:12 am

I'll check into these things, thanks Bob.

Free version?

Andrew Simpson — Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:48 pm

Author: Andrew Simpson

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:48 pm

That's OK.

My friend knows a computer programmer and he is going to make one

Problem with starting with Windows

Andrew Revering — Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:52 am

Author: Andrew Revering

Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:52 am

It could be. Vista gives us a lot of headaches.

What you can do is just make a shortcut to the program and copy that and paste it in Vista's startup directory, and it should launch properly.

new skins?

Andrew Revering — Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:39 am

Author: Andrew Revering

Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:39 am

The program is not skinable at this time.

Radar with scrolling text

Andrew Revering — Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:12 pm

Author: Andrew Revering

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:12 pm

Andrew,

That software version is a very old one... 4 years old to be exact per the date in the image. We had a lot of problems with the radar pop up and we opted to remove that feature from subsequent versions of the software. I apologize for the old image, we need to replace that.

Version 2.0.15

Andrew Revering — Fri Apr 18, 2008 4:40 am

Author: Andrew Revering

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 4:40 am

F5 has been updated with a couple minor improvements:

- 1km MLCAPE has been added per the request of storm chaser Scott Currens.
- GFS and other servers have better stability.

Surface Map?

Andrew Revering — Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:05 pm

Author: Andrew Revering

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:05 pm

The software right now does not draw fronts, but it will show pressure systems and wind barbs in the free version. You have to put it into multiple overlay mode in order to overlay the wind barbs on top of the surface pressure.

You will find these maps under the Free Maps option in the map tree.

Uploading with F5

Andrew Revering — Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:41 pm

Author: Andrew Revering

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:41 pm

A test file is uploaded automatically when you first set up the Scheduled item. If that shows up and you get no errors when you enter your settings, then you know it worked. Here are some notes to troubleshoot your settings:

1) Check your login information. If you can log in with an FTP program then you know you got the login information right.

2) Make sure you are entering the directory� If your directory is /F5Data/, It�s very important to have the two slashes on either side of the directory name, and you may want to make sure the capitalization is the same as the name on the server.

3) If you submit the schedule without error, it will not start uploading until you go to Server Mode in the menu of F5 and make sure that �Server Mode On� is checked. This is what turns the scheduling on. At that point when you minimize the program you�ll get a red F in the system tray by the clock, and this needs to remain running and connected to the Internet for the scheduled items to update properly.

4) Each map updates at a unique interval. Model Images for example update once an hour on the hour. Radar images every 5 minutes, current conditions at a different interval, etc. So if you don�t see anything uploading right away, just wait an hour or so. If you didn�t get any errors when you set up the schedule, then it should work properly. Just keep the program running and check your uploads after an hour, and you should see results.

Animations

Andrew Revering — Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:27 pm

Author: Andrew Revering

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:27 pm

Animations in F5 are slow because it's actually creating the image as it's loading it, which is different than the way web site animations work. All that hard processing is done before you even get to the web site in those cases. You just have to be patient and perhaps only load parts of a model run instead of the whole thing in F5. Once it completely loads it should animate pretty smoothly though.

Another trick to speed up animations is to only load shading without outlines or values, or to only load contours with no shading. That will cut the rendering time in half.

What I do is animate one specific map that maybe will trigger an 'AH HA!' to a specific forecast hour that I may want to look at. For example, right now I'm checking the GFS for when moisture would get up here for any severe risk in the future. So I animate a simple dew point map, and if I find one specific hour that has moisture up here. I stop the animation and step up to that point in time, and then shut off animations. Then from there I can load all the other important maps I want to look at for that forecast time.

Find Severe Weather or a Chase Target

Andrew Revering — Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:14 pm

Author: Andrew Revering

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:14 pm

F5 can be used to easily determine where the most severe weather and initiation of severe storms may be. Here's a very simple 2 step process that I personally am willing to stake driving 600 miles to storm chase on:

1) Go through the forecast hours and look at the APRWX Severe Index
2) Once you find 'some' color on the map, then use Sea Level Pressure with Surface Wind Barb overlay, and perhaps with Temperatures and Dew Points to find the boundaries... warm front, cold front and dryline.

Where the APRWX Severe Index is closest to a portion of a boundary is where I would target for chasing, and expect the most severe storms to begin.

The APRWX Severe Index does not need to be directly over the boundary, but it's crucial to pay attention to where the boundary is. The storm will be on the boundary, not necessarily in the center of the severe index shading. If a boundary is within say 100 miles of some shading on the APRWX Severe Index map, then expect severe storms at that location on the boundary. If the boundary and the severe index are farther apart than that, then it may not happen, or it's possible you're missing a more subtle boundary closer to the shaded area. Generally storms will start on the west side or north side of the APRWX Severe Index area.

It's also important to check as many models as possible for consistency. Use the process above using NAM data, GFS data, and if it's close enough in the future, the RUC data. You may end up with different targets by looking at the different models, but you can come to a compromise after looking at it all.

Cannot Get F5 To Operate On My Desktop

Andrew Revering — Sun Apr 06, 2008 2:04 pm

Author: Andrew Revering

Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 2:04 pm

I would make sure that before you try to reinstall that the current version showing in the task manager is not running... kill it in the task manager.

Then uninstall the software using the normal uninstaller.

Then go to C:\Program Files\F5 and delete the F5 directory.

Then reboot.

Then download the software again and reinstall. Make sure that you're installing under an administrator account. Maybe there's a component registration problem that's causing it which would be taken care of if you're under a profile that has full permissions such as the administrator account.

Reboot after installation and then try to run the program again.

Line Drawing Tool

Andrew Revering — Fri Apr 04, 2008 10:01 am

Author: Andrew Revering

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 10:01 am

Sure, I'll bump it on my priority list.