Precip. forcasts
Somewhat involved but useful:
First, the source page http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/npvu/data/text/rfcqps/nwrfc/nwrfc12

This is an example of what you will see:

FSUS46 KPTR 051502
QPSPTR

.BR PTR 20001105 DC200011051502
.BR1 /DH18 /PPQFM/DRH+06/PPQFM/DRH+12/PPQFM/DRH+18/PPQFM
.BR2 /DRH+24/PPQFM/DRH+30/PPQFM/DRH+36/PPQFM/DRH+42/PPQFM
.BR3 /DRH+48/PPQFM/DRH+54/PPQFM/DRH+60/PPQFM/DRH+66/PPQFM
:
: NWRFC QPS (pp)
:
UIL DC200011051020/ 0.16/ 0.16/ 0.08/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.11/ 0.31/ 0.12/ 0.05 :PP/FZ-WFO
ABEW1 DC200011051020/ 0.13/ 0.24/ 0.11/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.02/ 0.13/ 0.08/ 0.07 :PP/FZ-WFO
FRAW1 DC200011051020/ 0.11/ 0.24/ 0.13/ 0.01/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.03/ 0.06/ 0.08 :PP/FZ-WFO

I have highlighted some key information. In blue is the date of the forecast, Nov 5, 2000
Highlighted in lime is the time... DH18 means that the valid time for the first 6 hour increment is 18Z on Nov 5, 2000
DRH+06 means that the next increment is plus six hours or 00Z, plus 12 hours or 06Z, plus 18 hours or 12Z, and plus 24 hours means 18Z the next day and so on... for a total of 3 days.

This is all like the old format used to be but not broken down nicely anymore. But its all still there in the same order.

And it still comes in that "zulu" time which is "Universal Coordinated" time. That means that 00 Zulu time is 4pm our time. 06Z is 10pm our time. 12Z is 4am our time. So, 18Z is 10am our time.

Take the UIL site there, the first one highlighted in fuscia...
The data start for the time increment ending at 18Z on November 5 and go every 6 hours...
So, the predicted amount of precip at Quillayute for the time frame ending at 10am on November 5 is 0.16 inches. It is also predicted that 0.16 inches will fall between 10am and 4pm and 0.08 inches between 4pm and 10pm and 0.00 inches between 10pm Nov 5th and 4am on Nov 6th. And you can just track it on out by 6 hour increments for a total of three days.

Remember, the UIL stands for Quillayute which is located between Forks and LaPush, ABEW which is located at the Wishkah headworks (20 miles NNE of Aberdeen) and FRAW is Frances which is on the Willapa but is adjacent to the upper Chehalis/Elk Creek area. One other site further down the list is CINW which is Cinebar and is located just over the ridge from the upper Newaukum River I believe.

Another useful piece of information brought to you by the National Weather Service and the world wide web.

Potter
Could you explain the data format it looks like a bad baud rate connection to me.
Sorry I didnt read the rest of the post.

[This message has been edited by MMOUSE (edited 11-08-2000).]

MMouse, there is a lot of mumbo-jumbo there but if you wade through it you can get rainfall forecasts (amount) in 6 hour blocks. The forecast is for 3 days (thats why there is 12 rainfall amounts) and is updated daily. You also have to put on your Captian Marvel Decorder ring and figure out the Names. I listed 3 that I know. Helpful info when knowing How wmuch rain is expected. Good Luck.