Directives

For any WFO, it is possible to run a default localization to produce an operational configuration that is at least minimally usable. However, most sites will need at least some modifications to the default localization to produce the optimum operational configuration. The files installed in order to accomplish this are called site specific control files.

Assume one is working with some arbitrary localization with the id LLL. All of the site specific control files for the LLL localization can be found in the directory $FXA_HOME/data/localization/LLL, and have file names that start with LLL-. (In a source tree, they can be found in $FXA_HOME/src/localization/localData.) In the site specific control files called LLL-mainConfig.txt and LLL-wwaConfig.txt are software switches that can control many different aspects of how localization data sets are created. These switches are refered to as directives. LLL-wwaConfig.txt is a separate place for those switches that affect how warngen behaves, and LLL-mainConfig.txt contains the rest.

Each directive is one line in the file, and looks like this:

@@@tag the value of the directive The at signs are literal, the tag can be any string of alphanumeric characters with no white space, and the value of the directive can be any arbitrary text. To date, by convention, tags have been all caps. Most directives will acquire a default value if they are not present. If a directive occurs twice in a file, the last entry is what is used.

Additionally, it is possible to affect the value of directives by supplying customization files. These files reside in a directory pointed to by the environment variable $FXA_CUSTOM_FILES, or in $FXA_CUSTOM_FILES/$FXA_CUSTOM_VERSION. The customization main directive file can be named either LLL-mainConfig.txt or mainConfig.txt, and the customization warngen directive file can be named either LLL-wwaConfig.txt or wwaConfig.txt. The ones with LLL- will only affect that localization, the others will affect all localizations. By default FXA_CUSTOM_FILES points to $FXA_DATA/customFiles. Since this is a cross-mounted disk, a change made here will affect future localizations run on any machine. See section 9.0 in localization.doc for more details.

When one or more customization directive files are present, all like directive files are catenated in this order:

  $FXA_HOME/data/localization/LLL/LLL-*
  $FXA_CUSTOM_FILES/*
  $FXA_CUSTOM_FILES/LLL-*
  $FXA_CUSTOM_FILES/$FXA_CUSTOM_VERSION/*
  $FXA_CUSTOM_FILES/$FXA_CUSTOM_VERSION/LLL-*

Because the last occurence of a directive is what is used, entries in a directive file from a given directory in this list will override entries in files from a directory earlier in the list. This means, for example, that customization directives override those from site specific control files (found in localization/LLL).

In the case where a directive is being implemented as part of centrally supplied software load, it needs to be implemented in a site specific control file, whereas someone implementing a directive on site should use a customization file. This allows directives implemented on site to survive a new software load.

It is important to note that changes to directive files cannot directly affect the operation of the workstation or ingest software; they can only change the way a localization is built.

Here is a summary of all of the directives that will be recognized in the LLL-mainConfig.txt file.

Tag Possible Values Effect

WFO Id of any CWA Specifies which county warning area is the basis for defining the geographic characteristics of the localization. Defaults to the localization id.

CLONE Id of any other viable localization. Specifies that this localization shall be exactly like the other one specified, except for whatever additional site specific control files are added.

REALIZATION RFC If the realization is RFC, then will build a localization suitable for a River forecast center. If no realization is defined, will build the default WFO realization.

SATEW EAST or WEST Allows one to override the default satellite to ingest.

CCC Any AFOS CCC Allows one to override the default AFOS CCC used by the text database.

WMO Any WMO id Allows one to override the default WMO id placed in the header of text products in text editor. Defaults to KCCC.

XXXL List of AFOS XXX's Establishes those AFOS XXX's associated with text products important to the local area. Currently is primary means of determining which text products are used to make the Flash Flood Guidance graphic.

XXXR List of AFOS XXX's Establishes those AFOS XXX's associated with text products important to the regional area. Currently is primary means of determining which text products are used to make the Local Warnings graphic.

PUP_TABLES TRUE or anything else. If TRUE, use PUP default color tables for radar products (defaults to FALSE).

RADAR_Z Color table index. Color table to use for 4 bit (16 color) radar reflectivity products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.

RADAR_3 Color table index. Color table to use for 3 bit (8 color) radar reflectivity products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.

RADAR_V Color table index. Color table to use for 4 bit (16 color) radar velocity products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.

RADAR_V3 Color table index. Color table to use for 3 bit (8 color) radar velocity products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.

RADAR_P Color table index. Color table to use for radar precipitation accumulation products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.

RADAR_W Color table index. Color table to use for radar spectrum width products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.

RADAR_S Color table index. Color table to use for radar radial shear products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.

RADAR_8 Color table index. Color table to use for radar reflectivity mosaics. See $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.

RADAR_H Color table index. Color table to use for 8 bit (256 color) digital hybrid scan radar product. See $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.

WFOMAX A distance in km. Allows one to override the default maximum size (600) of the WFO scale.

STATESIZE A distance in km. Allows one to override the default size (900) of the State scale.

STATEWEST A distance in km. Allows one to override the default westward bias (100) of the State scale.

STATENORTH A distance in km. Allows one to override the default northward bias (0) of the State scale.

REGSIZE A distance in km. Allows one to override the default size (2000) of the Regional scale. One should be cautious about making it larger, because larger regional satellite sectors will be stored, with possible disk utilization problems.

REGWEST A distance in km. Allows one to override the default westward bias (200) of the Regional scale.

REGNORTH A distance in km. Allows one to override the default northward bias (0) of the Regional scale.

CO_PD A distance in km. Progressive disclosure parameter to use for county names. Defaults to 45.

ZN_PD A distance in km. Progressive disclosure parameter to use for zone numbers. Defaults to 35.

TOPO_SCALES Scale indices. Space delimited list of scales to actually generate topo for. Defaults to `0 2 4'.

CITY_SCALE A scale index. Scale index for which to generate city Map background for. Defaults to 3, normally the regional scale.

AREA_SCALE A scale index. Scale that determines clip area for certain data sets, including some hi-res grids and some map backgrounds. Defaults to 3, normally the regional scale.

BOTTOM 1000 or 850 Sets the lower bound for some layer products in model families (defaults to 1000mb.)

The file LLL-wwaConfig.txt has globally defined defaults for some of its possible directives established in the file wwaDefaults.txt. Most wwa directives result in direct text substitution in the warngen product definition files...only four have a functional impact on the way the localization works. These are:

Tag Possible Values Effect

SRWARN TRUE or anything else If TRUE, warngen will generate old style SRWARN format warnings instead of the new bullet style warnings.

ORABOUT TRUE or anything else If TRUE, invokes a feature whereby warngen will describe the location of weather events in relation to major cities, in addition to the nearest city in the warned area.

SBID List of potential service
backup localization ids. A list of service backup localization ids, in quotes, comma delimited, that warngen can be switched to run for on the fly.

CFROMZ TRUE or anything else If TRUE, invokes a feature whereby the warngen county table will be generated from forecast zone data.

The warngen product definition pre-templates live in localization/nationalData, and have either .preWWA or .preWWAB extensions. The .preWWAB files are the new bullet style format. The localization uses these to create the .wwaProd files in the localization data set, which are the warngen product definition files. The rest of these directives just result in a direct text substitution in the warngen product definition files. The location of these substitutions is denoted by an `@@@tag' string that looks just like the first word of the directive in the LLL-wwaConfig.txt file. Most of these directives just default to an empty string if not present, but it will be noted if different.

Tag Purpose

OFFH Name of the office to be used in the product header.

OFFT Name of the office to be used in the text of a product.

AREAS A term used to generically describe what a list of geographic entities is. Defaults to `AREAS'.

COPE How and whether to describe portions of areas for counties. Must be one or more of the following strings: `|portions' , `|extreme' , or `|central'. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.

ZOPE How and whether to describe portions of areas for zones. Must be one or more of the following strings: `|portions' , `|extreme' , or `|central'. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.

CIPE How and whether to describe portions of areas for cities being listed as locations within the warned area. Must be one or more of the following strings: `|portions' , `|extreme' , or `|central'. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.

PTPE How and whether to describe portions of areas for cities used as a reference to describe the location of a storm. Must be one or more of the following strings: `|portions' , `|extreme' , or `|central'. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.

COFA Establishes thresholds for automatically excluding small fragments of counties in the warngen box. Must be one or more of the following strings: `|min_area=aaa', `|min_fraction=fff', or `test_both', where aaa is an area in square km and fff is a fraction of a county. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.

ZOFA Establishes thresholds for automatically excluding small fragments of zones in the warngen box. Must be one or more of the following strings: `|min_area=aaa', `|min_fraction=fff', or `test_both', where aaa is an area in square km and fff is a fraction of a zone. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.

CIFA Establishes thresholds for automatically excluding small fragments of cities in the warngen box. Must be one or more of the following strings: `|min_area=aaa', `|min_fraction=fff', or `test_both', where aaa is an area in square km and fff is a fraction of a city. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.

Tag	Possible Values	Effect
WFO	Id of any CWA	Specifies which county warning area is the basis for defining the geographic characteristics of the localization. Defaults to the localization id.
CLONE	Id of any other viable localization.	Specifies that this localization shall be exactly like the other one specified, except for whatever additional site specific control files are added.
REALIZATION	RFC	If the realization is RFC, then will build a localization suitable for a River forecast center. If no realization is defined, will build the default WFO realization.
SATEW	EAST or WEST	Allows one to override the default satellite to ingest.
CCC	Any AFOS CCC	Allows one to override the default AFOS CCC used by the text database.
WMO	Any WMO id	Allows one to override the default WMO id placed in the header of text products in text editor. Defaults to KCCC.
XXXL	List of AFOS XXX's	Establishes those AFOS XXX's associated with text products important to the local area. Currently is primary means of determining which text products are used to make the Flash Flood Guidance graphic.
XXXR	List of AFOS XXX's	Establishes those AFOS XXX's associated with text products important to the regional area. Currently is primary means of determining which text products are used to make the Local Warnings graphic.
PUP_TABLES	TRUE or anything else.	If TRUE, use PUP default color tables for radar products (defaults to FALSE).
RADAR_Z	Color table index.	Color table to use for 4 bit (16 color) radar reflectivity products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.
RADAR_3	Color table index.	Color table to use for 3 bit (8 color) radar reflectivity products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.
RADAR_V	Color table index.	Color table to use for 4 bit (16 color) radar velocity products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.
RADAR_V3	Color table index.	Color table to use for 3 bit (8 color) radar velocity products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.
RADAR_P	Color table index.	Color table to use for radar precipitation accumulation products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.
RADAR_W	Color table index.	Color table to use for radar spectrum width products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.
RADAR_S	Color table index.	Color table to use for radar radial shear products. Default is determined by value of PUP_TABLES directive; see $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.
RADAR_8	Color table index.	Color table to use for radar reflectivity mosaics. See $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.
RADAR_H	Color table index.	Color table to use for 8 bit (256 color) digital hybrid scan radar product. See $FXA_HOME/data/colorMaps.mark for usable color table indices.
WFOMAX	A distance in km.	Allows one to override the default maximum size (600) of the WFO scale.
STATESIZE	A distance in km.	Allows one to override the default size (900) of the State scale.
STATEWEST	A distance in km.	Allows one to override the default westward bias (100) of the State scale.
STATENORTH	A distance in km.	Allows one to override the default northward bias (0) of the State scale.
REGSIZE	A distance in km.	Allows one to override the default size (2000) of the Regional scale. One should be cautious about making it larger, because larger regional satellite sectors will be stored, with possible disk utilization problems.
REGWEST	A distance in km.	Allows one to override the default westward bias (200) of the Regional scale.
REGNORTH	A distance in km.	Allows one to override the default northward bias (0) of the Regional scale.
CO_PD	A distance in km.	Progressive disclosure parameter to use for county names. Defaults to 45.
ZN_PD	A distance in km.	Progressive disclosure parameter to use for zone numbers. Defaults to 35.
TOPO_SCALES	Scale indices.	Space delimited list of scales to actually generate topo for. Defaults to `0 2 4'.
CITY_SCALE	A scale index.	Scale index for which to generate city Map background for. Defaults to 3, normally the regional scale.
AREA_SCALE	A scale index.	Scale that determines clip area for certain data sets, including some hi-res grids and some map backgrounds. Defaults to 3, normally the regional scale.
BOTTOM	1000 or 850	Sets the lower bound for some layer products in model families (defaults to 1000mb.)

Tag	Purpose
OFFH	Name of the office to be used in the product header.
OFFT	Name of the office to be used in the text of a product.
AREAS	A term used to generically describe what a list of geographic entities is. Defaults to `AREAS'.
COPE	How and whether to describe portions of areas for counties. Must be one or more of the following strings: `\|portions' , `\|extreme' , or `\|central'. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.
ZOPE	How and whether to describe portions of areas for zones. Must be one or more of the following strings: `\|portions' , `\|extreme' , or `\|central'. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.
CIPE	How and whether to describe portions of areas for cities being listed as locations within the warned area. Must be one or more of the following strings: `\|portions' , `\|extreme' , or `\|central'. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.
PTPE	How and whether to describe portions of areas for cities used as a reference to describe the location of a storm. Must be one or more of the following strings: `\|portions' , `\|extreme' , or `\|central'. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.
COFA	Establishes thresholds for automatically excluding small fragments of counties in the warngen box. Must be one or more of the following strings: `\|min_area=aaa', `\|min_fraction=fff', or `test_both', where aaa is an area in square km and fff is a fraction of a county. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.
ZOFA	Establishes thresholds for automatically excluding small fragments of zones in the warngen box. Must be one or more of the following strings: `\|min_area=aaa', `\|min_fraction=fff', or `test_both', where aaa is an area in square km and fff is a fraction of a zone. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.
CIFA	Establishes thresholds for automatically excluding small fragments of cities in the warngen box. Must be one or more of the following strings: `\|min_area=aaa', `\|min_fraction=fff', or `test_both', where aaa is an area in square km and fff is a fraction of a city. See TextTemplate.doc for more details.

Directives

Author: Jim Ramer Last update: 16 Jun 98

Author: Jim Ramer
Last update: 16 Jun 98