Local Temperature Data as Input to Computer Programs
 

Where can one find a machine-readable temperature table which
gives one's current official temperature?

Here is the problem in a nutshell. I want to use the local
temperature as input to a UNIX script that will turn up our thermostat
in the Winter. The idea is to wait until later in the morning to turn
it up when the outside air temperature is warmer since it won't take
as long to heat up on warmer days than when the temperature is below
freezing.

I thought I had it made when I found that the NWS gives our
local airport conditions so I wrote a UNIX "expect" script that does
successfully fire off the lynx browser and capture the text of the web
page with all the current conditions.

The trouble is that it takes more or less fields to describe
the current conditions which means that the temperature migrates up
and down the line depending upon how much information is ahead of it.
It can be the tenth field or the eighth field, etc.

I realized that I can't look for any identifying strings since
the temperature is normally part of a column. The text rendering
process destroys the formatting so I can't use position. In short, it
is too randomized to mechanically find 100% of the time.
What I need is a table meant as input to electronic devices
that keeps some sort of fairly rigid format so that mechanical
processes can find the data.

The link for local conditions I have been using is

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/obhistory/KSWO.html

It would be perfect if the temperature stayed in the same
field each time.

Thanks for any good ideas.
--

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK
Information Technology Division Network Operations Group

Local Temperature Data as Input to Computer Programs
 

Would this be easier to read?
http://www.uswx.com/us/stn/?code=c&n=25&stn=KSWO


"Martin McCormick" wrote in message
...

Where can one find a machine-readable temperature table which
gives one's current official temperature?

Here is the problem in a nutshell. I want to use the local
temperature as input to a UNIX script that will turn up our thermostat
in the Winter. The idea is to wait until later in the morning to turn
it up when the outside air temperature is warmer since it won't take
as long to heat up on warmer days than when the temperature is below
freezing.

I thought I had it made when I found that the NWS gives our
local airport conditions so I wrote a UNIX "expect" script that does
successfully fire off the lynx browser and capture the text of the web
page with all the current conditions.

The trouble is that it takes more or less fields to describe
the current conditions which means that the temperature migrates up
and down the line depending upon how much information is ahead of it.
It can be the tenth field or the eighth field, etc.

I realized that I can't look for any identifying strings since
the temperature is normally part of a column. The text rendering
process destroys the formatting so I can't use position. In short, it
is too randomized to mechanically find 100% of the time.
What I need is a table meant as input to electronic devices
that keeps some sort of fairly rigid format so that mechanical
processes can find the data.

The link for local conditions I have been using is

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/obhistory/KSWO.html

It would be perfect if the temperature stayed in the same
field each time.

Thanks for any good ideas.
--

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK
Information Technology Division Network Operations Group

Local Temperature Data as Input to Computer Programs
 

In article ,
TQ ToweringQs AT adelphia.net wrote:


Would this be easier to read?
http://www.uswx.com/us/stn/?code=c&n=25&stn=KSWO

Many thanks. If all the fields stay populated with something all the
time, it's working great.
--

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK
Information Technology Division Network Operations Group

Local Temperature Data as Input to Computer Programs
 

Sometimes elements are missing from the observation, but temperature is
always before the first '/'.

Here's another source in case uswx.com is down...

a href =
"http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/surface/index.php?metarIds=kswo&hoursStr=mo
st+recent+only&std_trans=standard&num_metars=numbe r&submit_metars=Retrieve"
Most recent observation/a

a href =
"http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/surface/index.php?metarIds=kswo&hoursStr=pa
st+6+hours&std_trans=standard&num_metars=number&su bmit_metars=Retrieve" Past
6 hrs...
/a

Main page...
http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/surface/

Tried to ensure the URL would wrap. Sorry if the HTML doesn/t quite work.

"Martin McCormick" wrote in message
...
In article ,
TQ ToweringQs AT adelphia.net wrote:


Would this be easier to read?
http://www.uswx.com/us/stn/?code=c&n=25&stn=KSWO

Many thanks. If all the fields stay populated with something all the
time, it's working great.
--

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK
Information Technology Division Network Operations Group