41 replies to this topic

[Southland Wx]

Hi all,

A friend of mine just built what I think is a great little tool to throw on your desktop and add to your toolkit if you have Excel. I think a lot of folks here will find some good use from this. It's a forecast sheet that looks like this:



Basically it fetches a bunch of BUFKIT and MOS data, including GFS ensemble data and imports it into a tidy little (ok, not terribly small) Excel sheet (Note that it will not work with any of the open source programs that are similar to Excel, such as Open Office), so if you're looking to get a lot of info in one window, this will do it. I think there's a good amount of use for this, especially since it's right off the desktop and fetches most MOS data you'd ever need + a good amount of other info. It also has charts/graphs for temps and precip and more built in. The author is very accessible and looking for feedback or tweaks as well, so don't hesitate to contact her.

You can download it here: http://www.txtornado.../Worksheet.html

[Rick G]

if you are running excel 2007 ot 2010 you will need to save it as a macro enabled spreadsheet. Do a file save as and then on the save as type. choose Excel Macro-enabled workbook. you will be promptedto enable content. that is normal.

Pretty cool sheet. nice tool.

[WxChick]

You should not need to save as macro-enabled. You just have to enable the macros when u open the program. In 2007 and 2010 it can be as simple as clicking allow on the banners at the top of the screen.

[L.B. LaForce]

Looks really neat, but when I click load data, it goes through, and tried to get data, but I get a run time error 1004.

[WxChick]

L.B. LaForce, on 2 February 2012 - 10:21 PM, said:

Looks really neat, but when I click load data, it goes through, and tried to get data, but I get a run time error 1004.

Hmmm. Not sure what that's about. I sent you a private message. (Wont be responding again until tomorrow though.)

[WestMichigan]

I can't get PSU to work so I switched to ISU and get "Run-time error '13': Type mismatch" with no option to debug or continue, just end or help. This looks like it could be a neat Excel application, I just wish I could get it to run. If it matters, I am using KGRR as my site and was loading the 2/3/12 6Z data.

[WxChick]

WestMichigan, on 3 February 2012 - 07:32 AM, said:

I can't get PSU to work so I switched to ISU and get "Run-time error '13': Type mismatch" with no option to debug or continue, just end or help. This looks like it could be a neat Excel application, I just wish I could get it to run. If it matters, I am using KGRR as my site and was loading the 2/3/12 6Z data.

I was able to duplicate this using the ISU server. I know what the problem is, but I have to get to work, and wont be able to fix it until later this afternoon. Not sure why PSU wouldnt work for you? I just used it, maybe it was temporarily down earlier.

[SBUWX23]

Wow this is really cool!!! Excellent work!

WxChick, on 3 February 2012 - 07:58 AM, said:

I was able to duplicate this using the ISU server. I know what the problem is, but I have to get to work, and wont be able to fix it until later this afternoon. Not sure why PSU wouldnt work for you? I just used it, maybe it was temporarily down earlier.

[SD]

This topic should really be pinned because what was created here was pretty freakin' amazing(and saves me some time in the morning!)!

[WxChick]

Took care of a couple of bugs that were uncovered by above posters. Please download the updated version.
http://www.txtornado.../Worksheet.html

Thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate them.

[wxmeddler]

Oh my gosh, this is absolutely amazing!

I ran it through Excel 2003 with the macro security settings on "low" and just hit OK when the PSU FTP window popped up. I got the same Error:1004 on the ISU site but WOW!!!

I am going to share this with my friends here at Millersville!

Awesome work!

[WxChick]

Hmmm. What version are you running? The bug with the ISU site should be fixed. Did u grab V2.2? If so, what site id were u tying to load?

[wxmeddler]

WxChick, on 4 February 2012 - 01:49 PM, said:

Hmmm. What version are you running? The bug with the ISU site should be fixed. Did u grab V2.2? If so, what site id were u tying to load?

V_2.2 and for whatever reason when I restarted the Excel, now it works.

[WxChick]

wxmeddler, on 4 February 2012 - 02:17 PM, said:

V_2.2 and for whatever reason when I restarted the Excel, now it works.

Hmmm. Weird. There has at times been issues wih the ISU server not liking when you re run the program...it acts like it didnt close a previous connection, so doesnt know what ti do. Even then tho, it just hangs on the connecting boxes and doesnt actually crash.

Glad its working for you though!

[SD]

WxChick, on 4 February 2012 - 02:31 PM, said:

Hmmm. Weird. There has at times been issues wih the ISU server not liking when you re run the program...it acts like it didnt close a previous connection, so doesnt know what ti do. Even then tho, it just hangs on the connecting boxes and doesnt actually crash.

Glad its working for you though!

I had that issue before with an FTP error from Penn State-I just restarted the Excel file and it worked again. I wouldn't really worry about it.

[KokomoWX]

Any way to make it work with three digit sites? My site is GVS.

It rocks otherwise.

[WxMidwest]

This Excel is Ridiculous, Thanks..

[SpartyOn]

Good idea.!!!

[Huffwx]

Very cool-- the PSU thing kept asking me for a password. ISU was great.

[WxChick]

KokomoWX, on 4 February 2012 - 09:47 PM, said:

Any way to make it work with three digit sites? My site is GVS.

It rocks otherwise.

It looks like GVS is not a valid MOS site. The MOS list is here... http://www.nws.noaa....ullform.mav.php Try KOKK for MOS and GVS for Bufkit.

[WxChick]

Huffwx, on 4 February 2012 - 11:03 PM, said:

Very cool-- the PSU thing kept asking me for a password. ISU was great.

With the PSU option, when the ftp box comes up you simply need to hit ok with it set to anonymous.

[WxMidwest]

WxChick Very Nice, just posted this on the NIU-AMS facebook...

[RCNYILWX]

This is awesome! Downloaded it at WFO Chicago and just sent out an email today promoting it to the rest of the staff. Thanks for putting it together and posting the link on here.

[kab2791]

Wow, this is very awesome! Thanks for sharing the link!

[Coach McGuirk]

wxmeddler, on 4 February 2012 - 12:42 PM, said:

Oh my gosh, this is absolutely amazing!

I ran it through Excel 2003 with the macro security settings on "low" and just hit OK when the PSU FTP window popped up. I got the same Error:1004 on the ISU site but WOW!!!

I am going to share this with my friends here at Millersville!

Awesome work!

I have Excel 2003 too. I couldn't get it to work. For some reason I was unable to plug in the airport code or any data.

[WxChick]

Coach McGuirk, on 5 February 2012 - 04:05 PM, said:

I have Excel 2003 too. I couldn't get it to work. For some reason I was unable to plug in the airport code or any data.

My best guess is that you haven't lowered your macro security? I believe in Excel 2003, you go under File ->Options -> Security Options -> Macro Security. But I could be wrong.

If its not a macro setting issue send me a private message and we can try to figure it out.

[Coach McGuirk]

WxChick, on 5 February 2012 - 06:45 PM, said:

My best guess is that you haven't lowered your macro security? I believe in Excel 2003, you go under File ->Options -> Security Options -> Macro Security. But I could be wrong.

If its not a macro setting issue send me a private message and we can try to figure it out.

Oh, nice. Thanks. Much help.

[ThreeRedheads]

Coach McGuirk, on 5 February 2012 - 04:05 PM, said:

I have Excel 2003 too. I couldn't get it to work. For some reason I was unable to plug in the airport code or any data.

WxChick, on 5 February 2012 - 06:45 PM, said:

My best guess is that you haven't lowered your macro security? I believe in Excel 2003, you go under File ->Options -> Security Options -> Macro Security. But I could be wrong.

If its not a macro setting issue send me a private message and we can try to figure it out.

For 2003, go straight to Tools then Macro then Security

What a great program. Thanks so much!

[KokomoWX]

Any thoughts on doing this with a severe weather forecasting tool? I always love text output...

Example of a web based one using one model - http://somdweather.c...rucstation=KMIA

[DaculaWeather]

Friggin' awesome! Worked first time even within my firewall at work (used ISU there). I'll try it at home this afternoon.

Very nice, thank you.

[WxChick]

KokomoWX, on 6 February 2012 - 01:55 PM, said:

Any thoughts on doing this with a severe weather forecasting tool? I always love text output...

Example of a web based one using one model - http://somdweather.c...rucstation=KMIA

Mmmm...no plans for that at this point. I have done something like this in the past, but there are some things that are difficult to do.

[isohume]

Great tool. Thanks for sharing. If you don't mind I'll share it with my WFO and my Air Force weather unit.

[WxChick]

isohume, on 8 February 2012 - 05:07 AM, said:

Great tool. Thanks for sharing. If you don't mind I'll share it with my WFO and my Air Force weather unit.

No problem. It's been shared through several WFOs already...though not really my own yet. I've shown it to most everyone, but havent really made it accessible. I need to do that.

[strongwxnc]

Superb !!!

[isohume]

WxChick, on 8 February 2012 - 09:14 AM, said:

No problem. It's been shared through several WFOs already...though not really my own yet. I've shown it to most everyone, but havent really made it accessible. I need to do that.

What? Your SOO doesn't know about this yet? Get that award! lol