Belchertown DarkSky Alerts

[rich T]

Pat

Wondering if there was a way to pull/display the Alerts for the area from Darksky using your coding?

Rich

[Pat]

I don't see their alerts in the API doc. Only what Colin is doing on his site to have their widget embedded. Do you see something I'm missing for API alerting?

[Colin Larsen]

Those alerts come as a part of the NZ Metservice widget that I use - it isn't a Darksky widget

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[rich T]

Happy Holidays

I have the embedded widget; to get the alerts you must click on the provided link. Which API are you using?

[Pat]

Belchertown skin is using the DarkSky API

[rich T]

Could this work with in your code:

DarkSkyApi.loadItAll(excludes, position);

DarkSkyApi.loadItAll()
  .then(console.log);

DarkSkyApi.loadItAll('daily,hourly,minutely,flags') // just return alerts

Found at https://github.com/deanbot/dark-sky-api

[Pat]

Ok cool. That GitHub repo just confirmed that I am doing what they're doing. I'm not using JavaScript though, I'm just grabbing the raw JSON from DarkSky. I guess I've never seen the alerts array in my output when I initially created it, so out of sight out of mind?

I just grabbed a forecast for an area in South Dakota that was under weather advisory, and I see in DarkSky's forecast it has the alert data. So I can use this sample data to include it in the skin. 

Where and how should the alert be shown? I'd like to keep it in line with the clean look of the skin. 

I think I'll show the alert at the top of the page beneath the timestamp. An alert icon (maybe something like this?) and a brief text of the alert next to it. Then you can click the alert to see the full details. 

[rich T]

I think underneath the timestamp with the Icon would look fine.  Same text size as the timestamp but bold.  Maybe make the Alerts optional feature, so the users has a choice to display the Alerts.

[Pat]

Agreed. Let me work on a concept

[Pat]

I just committed an initial attempt. You can download the files from GitHub or from the attachments here. 

As usual, have a backup of your setup just in case. To test it out, copy the attached files to skins/Belchertown and restart weewx. Wait for an archive period and if you have a weather alert, it should appear like in the screenshot. Clicking the link will take you to the source of the alert. 

The alert area should update automatically in the background (no page refresh needed). So if an alert goes active, it'll pop up the alert area. When it's gone it'll disappear. At least it should in theory :)

Will need some testing and ironing out over the next few days for sure... Let me know how it goes. 

[Pat]

Oops - forgot to hide the alert bar when an alert clears. Try this updated version attached. Same rules apply as above. 

[rich T]

Thanks Pat...Downloaded and installed both files and restarted weewx. No alerts in the area at this time; mostly likely some alerts towards end of week when the icy weather comes through.  We'll keep you informed.

Rich

[Pat]

Sounds good! 

I should add another disclaimer that the showing and hiding of the alert bar automatically without reloading the website is only accomplished if you have the MQTT feature enabled. 

Which reminds me I need to add an option to show that bar if MQTT is disabled. I'll have to make another update later today. 

[Colin Larsen]

Does that mean that I'll see alerts even though I only use the Darksky current conditions? Did you pop in the option to disable the alerts?

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[Pat]

I've made more changes to this. Now you have to opt in for the alerts. Erring on the side that alerts may not appeal or be available to everyone in every region, it's opt-in. Simply add forecast_alert_enabled = 1 to your skin options in weewx.conf. 

The alert description has a default truncate at 75 characters. You can override that with skin option forecast_alert_length

Also non-MQTT sites now have alerts available to them. 

Changes made to skin.conf, index.html.tmpl and user/bin/belchertown.py. You can find the latest files in the repository and in the list of recent commits. 

Please test it out. 

[G Hammer]

The changes didn't break anything here when there are no alerts, and perhaps tomorrow morning I'll be able to see the alert in action.

Thanks

[rich T]

Updated the files and all is running well. thanks Pat

[Pat]

I just received a weather alert on https://belchertownweather.com/ - so far so good.

Keep me posted on any alerts you guys get to make sure there's no bugs

[G Hammer]

Hi Pat,

I have the Winter Weather Advisory. Nothing broken.

Thanks!

[rich T]

Pat

If an area has multiple alerts, the skin only displays the first Alert.

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?site=tfx&zmx=&zmy=&map_x=168&map_y=146&x=168&y=146#.XCVn1WaWy70

[Pat]

Yeah I was afraid of that. I was thinking on my drive home today how best to show them without flooding the screen. 

[Pat]

I feel like the attachment is too busy, but it's an option. Otherwise I could try to pare it down to something like the NWS has with something simple: High Wind Watch in effect until December 30, 08:00 AM MST

[G Hammer]

If you could just link the alert and no additional text you could fit several on one line. 

If I see an alert, I’m going to click for more info anyway. 

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[Pat]

Perhaps something like this?

[G Hammer]

That gives the alert and enough info to decide if you want to see the whole alert. 

I like it. 

[Pat]

I agree. I've pushed these changes to GitHub. 

Feel free to grab the latest skins/Belchertown/index.html.tmpl and skin.conf, as well as bin/user/belchertown.py. 

The forecast_alert_length option is now deleted (not needed)

Restart weewx. 

[Pat]

I've also just updates the styles.css to have the correct spacing for the alert area. Be sure to grab a copy of that and restart weewx

[G Hammer]

Pat,

A bit late on getting the files, but while it didn't break anything, I now have two alert symbols displayed.

I replaced /index.html.tmpl skin.conf styles.css and bin/user/belchertown.py with the latest github versions.

[Scott Grayban]

Not for me but I did notice that my alert icon is black and not red....

[Pat]

Looks like you still have a bit of an older index.html.tmpl based on the alert source code I can see on your site. I'm not sure why you have 2 icons, but replace your index.html.tmpl with this one and then restart weewx. 

[Scott Grayban]

Why is my alert icon black though ? I did replace my index with yours and modified my styles by hand because I made some font color/text changes.

[Pat]

It doesn't look like you have the latest styles.css. Viewing your source shows the section missing where I set the icon red. 

Grab an updated copy, place in skins/Belchertown then restart weewx. It should update on the next archive interval

.wx-stn-alert i {
    color: red;
}

[Scott Grayban]

Yup missed that commit !

I can't overwrite the file because I have modified it for my tastes. So I use diff's

[Pat]

I see. I've made 2 changes to the styles.css file in the last couple of days. 

You can see those specific commits here and here

[Scott Grayban]

I got your last commit but missed the previous one for the alert icon. I'm all good now !

[kutz...@gmail.com]

Pat, Nice addition!!

It seems to be working great for me. We're in the middle of a major rainstorm - we currently have an embarrassment of alerts! See the attached jpg.

phil

On Thursday, December 27, 2018 at 9:11:04 PM UTC-5, Pat wrote:

[Scott Grayban]

Damn...... as if combining all alerts into 1 isn't good enough !!!

[Pat]

Wow that is a lot of alerts!

[G Hammer]

That was it. Thanks.

[Scott Grayban]

Well shit... I updated the styles and index.html.tmpl and the icon is STILL black...

On Friday, December 28, 2018 at 5:44:31 AM UTC-8, Pat wrote:

[Pat]

Double check your diff for typos and extra characters. Chrome is showing an error in your styles.css at line 1628 for .wx-stn-alert

[Scott Grayban]

Fixed that and went through everything 3 times.... no more errors but still black icon... odd

[kutz...@gmail.com]

Pat,

Do the alerts update automatically on archive refresh like the graphs? Or do you need to manually refresh the page. I disabled timeout for my page as I want people to be able to leave it up always on a tablet, if they like. It would be nice if the alerts went away when withdrawn or update if changed. If they don't update automatically, could that feature be added?

phil

[Pat]

It should clear on archive intervals. Keep an eye on it and let me know

[kutz...@gmail.com]

Sounds great Pat! I'll watch it and let you know.

Speaking of updates, I notice that the "Current Day" under "Weather Record Snapshots" on the main page (see attached screenshot) doesn't update automatically on archive intervals. The data in that block does update on archive intervals, but you need to refresh the page to get the day to change if you leave the website up overnight.

Can that be changed?

phil

[Pat]

I could have sworn I looked at this. Can you put in a quick issue for me on the GitHub page so I don't forget it again?

[kutz...@gmail.com]

Done. Issue #31.

 

phil

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[Scott Grayban]

I just checked again and the icon is still black.... I didn't see any errors in my chrome console either.

On Friday, December 28, 2018 at 6:24:44 AM UTC-8, Pat wrote:

[Pat]

The errors are still there. I'd even say they're worse. You have some ascii characters in there. 

Top part of screenshot is Chrome developer tools, bottom part is your styles.css. 

Try to delete and re-enter the diff. Something is very sideways. See attached screenshot. 

[Scott Grayban]

friggiin tab spacing.... so used to doing that i forget css hates it

[kutz...@gmail.com]

Pat,

Yes, the alerts update automatically! I have a few that disappeared and new ones were added without my doing a refresh. I now have 7 alerts showing! We've gotten a huge amount of rain and I'm showing flood alerts for several nearby rivers as well as alerts for the county. So, alerts are working great for me.

We've had a total of 3.3 inches of rain since the storm started yesterday - 2.6 inches of that has been since midnight 🌧☔. Hopefully it's over for now (radar looks clear). But there is some more rain forecast for Monday night.

phil

On Friday, December 28, 2018 at 11:38:49 AM UTC-5, Pat wrote:

[Scott Grayban]

Wasn't the tabbing editing in nano... seems my ssh environment was the issue. I fixed that and is working correctly.

[G Hammer]

Pat,

I'm getting two alerts for the Winter Storm Warning and two for the Wind Chill Advisory.

They are different NWS alerts for each and one of each is not for my area.

This one is for my area:

https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=MA125CE0EFA160.WinterStormWarning.125CE0FD7C40MA.BOXWSWBOX.1d5f2590948cc9500f4756d1991b8628

This one is not:

https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=MA125CE0EFA160.WinterStormWarning.125CE0FD7C40MA.BOXWSWBOX.6529073c32940990cc8d6e52d9e8aa92

I looked through the DarkSky API alerts but don't see why it would give two regions alerts.
Any ideas?

On Friday, December 28, 2018 at 9:03:04 AM UTC-5, Pat wrote:

[Pat]

I'm seeing the same thing on my site. 

This isn't a skin problem though. 

My guess is we're near the county lines and DarkSky is showing alerts for both?

Looking at your darksky_forecast.json (yes, I remembered your site), and running that data through https://jsonformatter.org you can see near the bottom the "alerts": [ section shows the 8 alerts on your website currently. 

So the skin is just showing the data that DarkSky is providing. 

You could reach out to DarkSky to see what they say?

Pat