What is the date range for a 3-hourly forecast Rep object? Is the timestamp the Period Beginning or Period Ending time

[Chris]

Following on from Mike Godber's post about observation date ranges (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/metoffice-datapoint/iO1JEnKMvss)

Does Colin Corkerton's post stating that the Observation data is period ending ("the value recorded in the hour preceding the observation  time") apply to the 3-hourly forecast data ?

What time range does one forecast cover, e.g.

<Period type="Day" value="2016-03-01Z">

  <Rep D="SSE" F="-2" G="36" H="92" Pp="98" S="22" T="4" V="VG" W="15" U="0">0</Rep>

h Period Ending - 2016-02-29Z 21:00 to 2016-03-01Z 00:00  ?

   Period Starting - 2016-03-01Z 00:00 to 2016-03-01Z 03:00 ?

   Hour Ending - 2016-02-29Z 23:00 to 2016-03-01Z 00:00     ?

   Snapshot - 2016-03-01Z 00:00 only   ?

   Cheers,

           Chris

[colin.corkerton]

Hi Chris,

The data is for the actual hour and not a period either side of it. So in your options it is the snapshot.

Regards,

Colin

[Mark Jackson]

Hi Colin

And is it for the hour preceding the time in the Rep node? So this

<Period type="Day" value="2016-03-01Z">

  <Rep D="SSE" F="-2" G="36" H="92" Pp="98" S="22" T="4" V="VG" W="15" U="0">0</Rep>

would be for the hour 2016-02-29Z 23:00 to 2016-03-01Z 00:00 ?

Thanks

Mark