20020507: Changes to SFCMG (cont.)

>From: Dee Wade <address@hidden>
>Organization:  SSEC
>Keywords:  200205031531.g43FVta06814 McIDAS SFCMG

Dee,

>Glad to hear that you agree TYPE= should be documented and supported in
>SFCMG. Our only concern is that its options are inconsistent with those
>in SFCRPT (which has TYPE=ALL/H/S with a default of ALL).

Sounds good.

>Therefore, what we'd like to do for this upgrade is document only the
>TYPE=ALL option in SFCMG, then, after the upgrade, change it from
>TYPE=ALL/STD to TYPE=ALL/H/S so it's consistent with SFCRPT.
>Does that sound ok to you?

OK.  I would argue (small point), however, that TYPE=H for SYNOPTIC
reports is a misnomer given that the reports do not come out every
hour.

>Also, if we make that change, do you think
>the default should be changed from "H" to "ALL"?

It seems like the default needs to be TYPE=H for continuity reasons
(i.e., the default now is to plot standard obs only).

>Our testers were
>somewhat divided because while ALL is better for getting more detail in
>the temp, dewpt and pressure traces, it often makes the data near the
>top (cloud, wind, wx and vis) unreadable.

I agree with this observation: the temperature and pressure traces are
better, but the cloud cover, visibility, etc.  can be cluttered.  I
typically do a "normal" plot and then redo the plot to TYPE=ALL when
there is interesting weather going on.

I think that the code change to TYPE=ALL/H/S could be made immediately
with little effort and not impact users expectations if the default
were TYPE=H.  The documentation in the User's Guide could be left till
later given the late date.

Tom