Sunbird Widget (Yahoo! Widget)

[gumm]

Hi all,

I updated the Sunbird Screenlet to version 0.0.3
The direct download link is here: http://faqawi.com/sunbird/screenlet/Sunbird.widget

Change log:

• Parses dates better - to determine day/night icons
  Expanded the observation descriptions - this means that all description phrases as listed here http://www.weather.gov/xml/current_obs/weather.php will be mapped to a weather icon
  Expanded the available weather icons, and depreciated the use of Yahoo Icons. All icons are now proprietary and unique to Sunbird
  Added the ability to see the condition descriptions in words. This is useful for debugging. I am struggling to find a definitive list of possible weather condition descriptions from Wunderground, so it may (probably will) happen that a description is not mapped to an icon. If this happens, please mail me and I will include it.

If you are using an older version of the Sunbird Widget, I suggest you upgrade to this version.
Please give feedback as you see fit. I am especially interested in the condition descriptions that are not mapped at the moment.

Kind regards
Gumm

[Paul C]

Worked straight away, its says its cloudy - looks outside and its correct (so far)

[Paul C]

Just to let you know that the "Conditions" has been very accurate. A shot time ago it correctly stated drizzle, looked out and sure enough it was, despite temps of +2.2c dewpoint +0.5c at the time. Well done.

[TgT]

Is it just me with wrong Heat Index value shown?

[steve]

Is it just me with wrong Heat Index value shown?

Mine doesn't seem to show the Heat Index at all?

Steve

[gumm]

Hi guys,

Its possible that there are problems with the wind chill temp. I tried to make it so that it shows either "wind chill" or "heat index" depending on which applies. To my understanding it is only ever the one or the other (?) . Heat index when it feels warmer than what it is, or wind chill when it feels colder. Not sure if such a simplification is valid.

Regards
jan

[beteljuice]

That's very much what I do in my own coding, I don't know what Cumulus does, but some wx stations treat them all separately, some reason Heat Index with 'normal' but exclude windchill, and some do the full reasoning on Heat Index of windchill / as is / true Heat Index.

That's why I do a reasoned 'feels like'.

[TgT]

Right now there is -5,2°C WindChill/HeatIndex but on Y!Widget it shows -9°C
I`m using 0,3 version of the widget

[steve]

I don't know what Cumulus does

Cumulus just calculates and/or displays both regardless, and leaves it to the user to decide which, if any, to take note of.

Steve

[beteljuice]

... Cumulus just calculates and/or displays both regardless ..

So Heat Index is as reasoned by the (put your make here) base unit.

[steve]

So Heat Index is as reasoned by the (put your make here) base unit.

I'm not sure whether you're asking me something or telling me something

Cumulus calculates the Heat Index from the temperature and the humidity - but I notice that below 68F it just uses the same value as the temperature - wherever I got the formula from must have stated that. I also see that the Davis stations can supply the heat index, but I'm not using that, I'm not sure why not.

Steve

[beteljuice]

I was assuming Heat Index was supplied by the wx base station, but You are saying it is a Cumulus calculation ?

And it outputs a 'feels like' temp (as you correctly state HI shouldn't exist below certain temp.), BUT does the logic include windchill ? ie. gives the 'full range' of feels like.

[steve]

I was assuming Heat Index was supplied by the wx base station, but You are saying it is a Cumulus calculation ?

Yes, always calculated by Cumulus. Only the Davis stations supply a Heat Index, and I don't use that anyway.

And it outputs a 'feels like' temp (as you correctly state HI shouldn't exist below certain temp.), BUT does the logic include windchill ? ie. gives the 'full range' of feels like.

No, it's just a straight Heat Index, so it's a 'how HOT does it feel'. Wind chill gives you 'how COLD does it feel'.

Steve

[harmpjuh]

Hello,

I've also download Sunbird, I want the weather of this place: N 52 12.568, E 6 52.726, can somebody help me?

Thanks!

Harmen

[gumm]

Hello Harmen,

This widget/screenlet does not look at any public weather broadcasts, but rather private weather stations. These are commercially available weather stations such as the Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus, Oregon Scientific, Fine Offset Electronics or La Crosse Technology stations.

Many people are hobbyist (or semi- or fully pro, I don't want to offend any forum members ) meteorologists who have such personal weather stations and who then set up their own web sites to publish the data from their station. Sandaysoft's Cumulus software (http://sandaysoft.com/) is a *very good* free software package that does this. So this widget/screenlet requires that you:

• 1) have access to your own weather station or like me, have a nearby friend who owns one
  2) you use Cumulus software to read the data from your weather station, and
  3) that the data from this station is published to a web site that you have access to.

If you have both a weather station and are already using the Cumulus software, then please forgive my long introduction, and tell me a bit more about the problems you have in getting this widget/screenlet to function.

Kind regards
Jan