Extended Abstract (28K)6.1
AWIPS Local Application—LSR4AWIPS
Mark T. Mutchler, NOAA/NWS, North Platte, NE
As a greater emphasis was placed on utilizing AWIPS versus PC-based applications at the WFO level, there arose a need for a program which could aid in the timely creation and transmission of Local Storm Reports (LSRs) within the AWIPS platform. The LSR is necessary to provide near realtime reports to help SPC make quick and accurate decisions in issuing Watch products. The script, LSR4AWIPS, was developed with this need in mind. The script was written utilizing the Tool Command Language (Tcl) and its associated graphical user interface toolkit, Tk. LSR4AWIPS is a complex application which allows the user to enter storm reports in a simple and easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI), add the reports to an active report, summary report, and an event log, and then transmit the product via the AWIPS WAN. The script is continually monitored for possible improvements, and was recently modified to allow for quicker report dissemination by adding pull-down city menus. Currently, LSR4AWIPS goes beyond the simple creation of LSR products by computing the latitude and longitude of each entered report and placing that data in a flat file database. This file can then be used to plot the data via ArcView (a widely used map production software) for display on the Internet or for the creation of a static graphical display on AWIPS. Other considerations for the script include utilizing LSR4AWIPS data to create initial StormData reports and integrating spotter lists to log and automatically insert data into the script.
Session 6, Locally Written Applications
Wednesday, 16 January 2002, 1:30 PM-4:00 PM
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