Re: Funny chars in metar?

[Ray v. B. <r_v...@ho...>]

>I'm sorry, but I'm not able to make an exact reference as I do not have the
>relevant document, being the WMO publication No. 306, Manual on Codes (ICAO
>Annex 3 only states how to create a METAR). I talk from 30 years of
>experience with OPMET codes.
>
>I don't know where your item 12.5 comes from...
...snip...

Section 12.5 comes from the Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 1
(found it via the www.gimpster.com site at:
http://tgsv5.nws.noaa.gov/oso/oso1/oso12/fmh1/fmh1ch12.htm)

Maybe section 12.5 is one of the exceptions as described in section 12.1 
(find it below):

  "12.1 General

   The coding standards in this chapter conform to WMO Code Forms
   METAR FM 15-IX Ext. and SPECI FM 16-IX Ext. and the United States
   Exceptions filed with the WMO. These exceptions reflect national
   observing practices which differ from practices outlined in the WMO
   Manual on Codes No. 306."

I'm not argueing that the '/////' is not a valid construction, I'm just 
curious where it comes from and I guess I want to know if there are more of 
these constructions.

Martin created phpweather based on the document the is linked above. If that 
is not the whole story (or partially the wrong story), IMHO the script 
should be adjusted to comply to the exact metar definition.

Greetz,

Ray


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