v3.0.8

SounderPy v.3.0.8 | Minor bug fixes

The Scoop:

Additions

1. None

Changed

1. None

Bug Fixes

1. Corrected a bug when performing downdraft CAPE/CIN/profile calculations on ACARS profiles as discussed in #36. The calculations fail when there is insufficient data (700hPa-500hPa) on shorter ACARS profiles. As such, the calculations are now simply bypassed if the data is insufficient.
2. Adjusted the warnings associated with the DCAPE/DCIN calculations to communicate the issue described above.

Removed

• None

v3.0.7

SounderPy v.3.0.7 | Stepwise CAPE & CIN plot, CM1 height logic corrections, fixed PWAT formatting bug

Example of new plot:

The Scoop:

Additions

1. Added stepwise CAPE and CIN plot presented by @rvanasa in #33, #34, & #35

Changed

1. None

Bug Fixes

1. Corrected height logic for CM1 processes in .to_file() and .make_cm1_profile(), added convert_to_AGL param to .to_file() (defaults to True)
2. Corrected stupid PWAT text formatting issue on full sounding plots when plotting CM1 data -- why that was a thing, I have no idea

Removed

• none

v3.0.6

SounderPy v.3.0.6 | CM1 and WRF data processing, minor bug fixes, SounderPy Cookbook

The Scoop:

Additions

1. Added wrf_utils.py module & make_wrf_profile() function to process WRF output into SounderPy format
2. Added cm1_utils.py module & make_cm1_profile() function to process CM1 input_sounding files into SounderPy format
3. Updated docs to include the Beginner's SounderPy Cookbook

Changed

1. Removed beta Barnes-style interpolation function for modify_sfc(). Will rework this in future releases.
2. Cleaned up a few components of the docs

Bug Fixes

1. Introduced pressure units check for RAP/RUC data
2. Made a correction to the to_file() function to properly output sfc values and above hgt-above-sfc values into CM1 format

Removed

• none

v3.0.5

SounderPy v.3.0.5 | CDSAPI Beta Transition; Plot Improvements; Minor bug fixes.

The Scoop:

Additions

1. New text box encompassing 0-3km and 0-6km SRH & BWD, STP, SCP, 0-1 & 0-3km EHI
2. Omega (vertical velocity) plots for model data
3. New DCAPE (& DCIN) calculation
4. clean_data dictionaries now include a titles sub-dictionary that contains pre-made dynamic plot titles based on the data. This allows users to edit the titles if they wish, and it makes implementing custom data sources easier.
5. Surface wind speed and direction modification via modify_sfc
6. Created the kwarg clean_it for all "get_ _data()" functions. If False, the function returns the raw data file that SounderPy loads without any cleaning.

Changed

1. The modify_sfc kwarg must now be of type dict instead of list. This allows users to modify surface temperature, dewpoint, wind speed, wind direction or any combination of the four. Ex: modify_sfc={'T':30, 'ws':15}
2. Changed (corrected) to_file() CM1 output to include surface pressure, potential temperature and mixing ratio. Corrected mixing ratio units.
3. Refactored 'sounderpy/src/sounderpy'. Now, code for each data type retrieval is stored in separate modules (acars_data.py, etc.). Introduced a utils.py module for 'helper' functions
4. Increased required version number of the cdsapi package

Bug Fixes

1. Introduced a function to check for, and correct, erroneous height data in University of Wyoming observed profiles
2. Updated/corrected ERA5 access for new CDS API Beta

Removed

simple_sounding() has been deprecated

v3.0.4

SounderPy v3.0.4 | Plot improvements and minor bug fixes to v3.0.3

The Scoop:

Additions

1. Wetbulb-0C hgt annotation and value readout
2. Map inset with sounding location and MRMS mosaic radar data (when available)
3. Effective Inflow Layer Kinematic values readout
4. Most Unstable Max Parcel Level annotation
5. Published the radar hodograph plot function
6. Added a 'user modified surface' tool, allowing users to modify the surface temperature and dewpoint of a profile -- ex: kwarg modify_sfc=[24.3, 20.1] when using build_sounding()

Changed

1. Improved readability of hodograph hgt markers
2. Slightly adjusted some colors of readout values for improved readability
3. Relaxed matplotlib upper version bound

Bug Fixes

1. Implemented a fix for BUFKIT stations with names such as 'p#3' so URLs to the data won't fail
2. Corrected BUFKIT forecast hour mismatch for NAM and GFS data
3. Corrected the name mismatch for BUFKIT NAM3km and NAMNEST
4. Corrected some calculation errors / improved calculations in the 'radar profile calc' class.

Removed

None, but simple_sounding() will be deprecated in a future release

Full Changelog: v3.0.3...v3.0.4

SounderPy v3.0.3

SounderPy v3.0.3 | Minor bug fixes to v3.0.2

The Scoop:

Additions

1. Add gitignore, remove binary stuff from repo by @akrherz in #21

Changed

1. None.

Bug Fixes

1. Plot failure when plotting custom storm motions with ACARS profiles without enough data to calculate Bunkers Storm motions. Fixed, changed a parameter to sm_u instead of rm_u.
2. Hodograph plot mixed-layer variable set to most-unstable variables. Fixed, switched MU variables to ML variables.

Removed

None

New Contributors

• @akrherz made their first contribution in #21

Full Changelog: v3.0.2...v3.0.3

SounderPy v3.0.2

SounderPy v3.0.2 | "The Parcel Update"

The Scoop:

Additions

1. ecape-parcel-py specialized parcel calculation and plotting logic
2. Relative humidity w/ height annotations on 'full' sounding plot
3. 6-9km kinematic parameters added to the 'kinematics' parameter print-out box on 'full' sounding and hodograph plots
4. User-defined and custom storm motion support using the kwarg storm_motion
5. Accept Matplotlib colormaps for composite-sounding plots using the cmap kwarg
6. VAD hodograph plot function and data retrieval function added, but dependency issues exist -- full release of these features will be delayed.

Changed

1. Composite-sounding plots now default to matplotlib colormap 'viridis' instead of a hard-coded list of colors. Users can still use the color_to_use kwarg or the new cmap kwarg to override the colors used.
2. The thermodynamics section of the 'full' sounding plot was rearranged. 'SR-ECAPE' (SB, MU & ML) replaced the 'NCAPE' section.
3. Storm motion logic was reworked in the .calc module to use 'sm_u'/'sm_v' instead of 'rm_u'/'rm_v' so that all calculations and plotting responds to user-defined storm motion.
4. Some aspects of the skew-t plot layout were adjusted for improved readability. DGZ, HGZ, Max-lapse rate, and EIL annotations are now located on the left of the plot.

Bug Fixes

1. Band-aid-ed missing BUFKIT dewpoints so parcel calculations stop failing on BUFKIT forecast model data
2. Fixed ERA5 data parsing issue

Removed

None

SounderPy 3.0.1

Introducing SounderPy v3.0.1

A primarily bug-fix release for v3.0.0 with a few additions for improved functionality of existing tools.

The Scoop:

Additions

1. First implementation of VAD Hodograph plot function that plots NEXRAD VWP VAD data on a hodograph: build_vad_hodograph(). Currently still in development. This tool will not yet be fully included in v3.0.1, but likely will be in the next release.
2. Ability to target specific RAP-RUC datasets when using get_model_data() using the dataset kwarg.
3. Ability to determine a 'box average' size when using get_model_data() using the box_avg_size kwarg. See the Changed section for more info.

Changed

1. Model reanalysis data now uses an 'area-average' or 'box-sounding' approach to build a vertical profile of reanalysis data. I.e., by default, a user must pass a lat/lon point to get_model_data(), SounderPy will extract data for a 0.1x0.1 degree box and average the data together to build an averaged-point profile. Users may declare a desired box size using the box_avg_size kwarg.

Bug Fixes

1. Corrected EIL-SRH plot on hodographs
2. Corrected 0-1km Streamwise Vorticity value on sounding and hodograph plots
3. Improved Freezing-Point calculation using interpolation scheme.
4. Corrected last-forecast-hour BUFKIT data retrieval issue and created an error message for when an invalid forecast hour is requested.
5. Corrected RAOB site ID issue -- users can now request data using a WMO ID or ICAO ID.

Removed

None

Looking ahead to the future

1. IN THE WORKS: New ECAPE operations, allowing for the plotting of different ECAPE parcel traces and user-specified parcel-types
2. VAD VWP Hodograph plots.

SounderPy v3.0.0

Introducing SounderPy v3.0.0

Summary

Version 3.0.0 of SounderPy brings exciting to features and improvements to existing functionality. This release will provide users with enhanced plotting capabilities, an improved user interface, improved parameter calculations via Sharppy utilities, and cleaner code overall.

Some major upgrades include... a number of new and improved plotting tools that create one-of-a-kind sounding and hodograph plots, new parameter calculations utilizing Sharrpy functionality and a new documentation site.

The Scoop:

Additions

1. New plot creation abilities using the new build_sounding() and build_hodograph() functions.
2. Composite sounding plots using the new build_composite() function. This will allow users to analyze several profiles at once.
3. A 'Dark Mode' setting for sounding, hodograph, and composite plots.
4. A color-blind friendly setting for sounding plots that turns the green dewpoint trace to blue.
5. Redesigned package structure, including the base sounderpy.py module, a calc.py module, and a plot.py module.
6. A new stand-alone documentation site that offers clear, easy-to-find documentation for SounderPy's funtionality. Available, under construction, here.
7. A print out of general thermodynamic and kinematic parameters of a given profile to the console when data is retrieved by SounderPy.

Changed

1. Functions build_sounding() and build_hodograph() replace metpy_sounding() and metpy_hodograph()
2. get_model_data() keyword argument method changed to model
3. Some warnings were changed to exceptions and other warnings were made more concise to address specific issues and improve the code's user-interface.
4. Computed thermodynamic and kinematic properties of a profile were changed to the widely accepted Sharppy calculation methods. This allows for increased reliability in functioning calculations and for more parameters that can be included in plots. SounderPy now directly uses the Sharrpy package for calculations of profile properties.

Bug Fixes

1. Minor bugs were addressed throughout the code. Some of these include...
   • The NWS-hosted METAR site list was removed from its online location a couple months ago. SounderPy now has its only METAR site list for finding METAR lat/lon sites.
   • Some data retrieval functions would only like station ID's in upper-case ('APX'), this bug was fixed so lines like the following will be accepted: spy.get_obs_data('apx', '2022', '05', '20', '18')

Removed

1. The parse_data() function is depreciated. Its functionality was simply added to the get_model_data() function.

---

Examples of new plots available with SounderPy functionality:

New Full Sounding Plot:

New Composite Sounding Plot using 'Dark Mode'

New Hodograph Plot in 'Dark Mode'

Full Changelog: v3.0.0...v3.0.0

SounderPy 2.0.6

SounderPy v2.0.6 will feature a few bug fixes to the plotting functions from v2.0.5.

Fixed

• Erroneous dewpoint data from the NCEP-FNL and BUFKIT archived forecasts have been removed. I.e., bad data (considered less than -130C in this case) are set to nans to improve calculations. This is considered a 'test' and may be slightly modified in later updates.
• MetPy CAPE/CIN calculations were changed from MetPy's surface_based_cape_cin() to MetPy's cape_cin() which seems to both perform better and handle possibly erroneous data better. This was done for SB, ML & MU CAPE/CIN.
• An improved way to set the temperature axis bounds was created to ensure that the profile plots somewhat in the 'middle' of the skew-t for the best possible readability.

An example of the dewpoint corrections with correct MetPy CAPE/CIN calculations: