HDOB Placefile Generator is a utility for generating placefiles from High-Density Observations (HDOB) data collected from hurricane reconnaissance aircraft. This tool is useful for meteorologists and weather enthusiasts to visualize hurricane data in GRLevelX and similar applications.
- Fetches and parses HDOB data from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) Reconnaissance Archives.
- Generates placefiles compatible with GRLevelX weather radar software.
- Supports unit conversion between metric and imperial.
- Allows configuration of observation parameters, refresh intervals, and output paths.
- Easy-to-customize configuration for user-specific needs.
To get started, you need to have Node.js installed. We recommend using Node.js version 14 or higher.
-
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/stevengfx/hdob-placefile-generator.git
-
Navigate to the project directory:
cd hdob-placefile-generator -
Install the dependencies:
npm install
Once you have installed the dependencies, you can generate a placefile by running the following command:
npm startThis will execute the hdob-placefile-generator.mjs script, which fetches HDOB data from the NHC archive and generates a placefile in the current directory.
- By default, the script looks back 1 hour into the HDOB archive. You can adjust the
hoursBackconfiguration within the script.
- The output placefile will be saved as
hdob_placefile.txtin the project root by default. You can customize this path in the configuration section.
You can adjust various settings in the script by modifying the config object. Here are the key configuration options:
const config = {
baseUrl: 'https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/recon/2024/', // Base URL for the NHC recon archive
hoursBack: 1, // Number of hours to go back in the archive
windbarbIcons: './assets/Basic_WindBarb_096.png', // Wind barb icons // TODO: Need to fix windbarb icons
airplaneIcon: './assets/airplane.png', // Airplane icon
units: 'imperial', // Choose between 'imperial' or 'metric' units
outputFilePath: './hdob_placefile.txt', // Path to save the generated placefile
refreshInterval: 10, // Refresh interval for placefile updates (in seconds)
titlePrefix: 'Hurricane Hunter', // Prefix for the placefile title
color: [200, 200, 255], // RGB color for the placefile header
timeFormat: '24h', // Time format: '12h' or '24h'
pressureUnit: 'mb', // Pressure unit: 'mb' or 'inHg'
rainRateUnit: 'mm/hr', // Rain rate unit: 'mm/hr' or 'in/hr'
temperaturePrecision: 1, // Decimal precision for temperature
windSpeedPrecision: 2 // Decimal precision for wind speed
};The generated placefile is designed for GRLevelX and follows the standard format for weather radar placefiles. Here’s an example snippet:
Refresh: 10
Title: Hurricane Hunter - 2024-09-26 19:25:00 UTC
Color: 200 200 255
Font: 1, 11, 1, "Courier New"
Threshold: 999
IconFile: 1, 18, 44, 3, 40, "./assets/Basic_WindBarb_096.png"
IconFile: 9, 15, 15, 7, 7, "./assets/airplane.png"
Object: 27.2667,-84.6
Icon: 0,0,000,9,1,"Date: 17:16:30 UTC\nAircraft Pres: 696.6 mb\nTemp: 55.0°F (30sec avg)\nDew: 48.0°F (30sec avg)\nWind: 37° @ 81.64 knots (30sec avg)\nRain Rate: 1 mm/hr"
Icon: 0,0,37,1,16
Text: -17,13,1,"Wind: 81.64 knots"
Text: -17,-13,1,"Temp: 55.0°F"
End:
Contributions are welcome! If you have suggestions, bug reports, or improvements, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.
- Fork the repository.
- Create a new branch (
git checkout -b feature/your-feature). - Make your changes.
- Push your changes (
git push origin feature/your-feature). - Create a pull request.
This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.
Enjoy using HDOB Placefile Generator! If you find this tool helpful, feel free to give a ⭐️ on GitHub!