Thanks to the essential contributions of Juan Jose Amides Figueroa and Angelo Pascualetti, the International Desks at NOAA have developed a set of programs to ease the download and processing of GFS model data. Instead of downloading GFS-1-degree data from the whole globe, the programs developed extract 0.5-degree-GFS grib data for specific sectors of the Americas, download the data from the NCEP NOMADS server http://nomad5.ncep.noaa.gov/ncep_data/index.html and convert them to Wingridds3.2 format. The new grib files could also be used to initialize regional models. As a result, we have been able to save disk space, accelerate download times, accelerate processing times and improve horizontal resolution simultaneously. A powerpoint presentation explaining the benefits and summarizing this contribution is available here. Advantages

1.	Save disk space by downloading smaller GFS-model files (~9.4MB instead of 51.7MB per grib file for the Mexico-Caribe sector and ~13MB instead of 51.7MB for the South America).
2.	Improve data horizontal resolution from 1.0° to 0.5°.
3.	Improve data download times and especially bandwidth usage, freeing bandwidth for other operations.
4.	Improve data processing times when using the software Wingridds.
5.	Be able to download data going back 12 days instead of only 1 day.
6.	The Wingridds version installed also contains MACROS developed at the International Desks. These can be found in the folder "C:\WINGRIDDS\MACROS". These MACROS allow to plot different useful fields. A table with the information regarding the MACROS is also included in the folder. Note that this Wingridds version also contains the Galvez-Davison Index (GDI) calculation algorithm installed. You can plot the GDI using the "GDIH.CMD" macro, or by typing the command "CTFC CFCB GDIF".

PC/Laptop Requirements

Have Windows 7 or newer versions installed. The programs do work in Windows XP but they can have some problems.

Downloading and Installing the Software

You can download the installation executable for a 64-bit system here , and for a 32-bit system here. The 32-bit executable should work also for 64-bit systems but we wanted to give you the two options. Once downloaded, you can execute the downloaded file from any folder. Executing this file will install the software in your PC/Laptop. Please note that the installer will create a "C:\WINGRIDDS" folder, thus if you have WINGRIDDS installed in your PC/Laptop please rename your current "C:\WINGRIDDS" folder before running the installer. What will the installer do? 1. Generate a "C:\WINGRIDDS" folder with the Wingridds 3.2 version. 2. Generate a "C:\WINGRIDDS\datosector_gfs" folder that contains the set of programs to download the GFS sector data and the corresponding documentation. ALTERNATIVE OPTION: If you have problems running the installer, you can download the following zip files instead. Once unzipped, you can copy the "WINGRIDDS" folder to your "C:\" drive and the programs should work smoothly. You can download the zip file for a 64-bit system here , and for a 32-bit system here. Remember that if you have already a "C:\WINGRIDDS" folder prior to installation you must rename it.

Operating the Download Programs

Once installed, you will have a new folder "C:\WINGRIDDS" in your PC/laptop. To download GFS-0.5-degree sector data you can enter the folder "C:\WINGRIDDS\datosector_gfs\en" (for programs in English) or "C:\WINGRIDDS\datosector_gfs\es" (for programs in Spanish) and just double click on the relevant program. Each folder contains eight programs, for two sectors and for four different hours of initialization (00z, 06z, 12z and 18z). Additional information is available in the "readme" files located in "C:\WINGRIDDS\datosector_gfs\documentation" in your PC. Once you execute a given program, it will connect to the NOMADS server and download the 0.5-degree-GFS data for the sector specified and the initialization time specified in the program name. Remember that the model data becomes available about 4 hours after initialization. For example, to download the data from the GFS-00z for the South America sector you will need to execute the program "download_southamerica_sector_gfs_00z.CMD" after 04z.

If you have problems running the programs...

One source of error could be that Windows Systems can have a different format for the date. A way to see the way your Windows System sees the date you can open a CMD window and type the command "echo %date%". Once you discover this you can edit the section "::######DEFINE LA HORA DEL SISTEMA Y MUESTRA LA FECHA QUE ESTA USANDO" in your "C:\WINGRIDDS\datosector_gfs\es" programs or "::######DEFINE SYSTEM DATE AND TIME" in your "C:\WINGRIDDS\datosector_gfs\en" programs to accomodate them to your computer. More details on this here . Another source of error can be that the Grib-to-Wingridds converter runs before all the files have been downloaded completely. This usually happens when the internet connections are slow, but not always. The solution is to comment the last two lines of the programs from cd %folderwingridds% Ngrb2pcg32.exe to ::cd %folderwingridds% ::Ngrb2pcg32.exe After you run this modified version of the programs, once they are done downloading all the grib files to the "C:\WINGRIDDS\GRIB\NWS" folder, you can run the conversion executable just by double clicking on it. This file is the "C:\WINGRIDDS\Ngrb2pcg32.exe" executable. A last source of error identified are problems with the firewall. Some institutions have firewalls that block the ports used to connect with the NOMADS server and download the data. If this is the issue, a solution would be trying to run the programs using a different internet connection. Internet connections set up at home often have firewall settings lax enough to allow the programs to work.

Sectors defined

The programs allow to download data from two sectors: a South American sector and a Mexico-Caribbean Sector. Detailed information about these sectors and corresponding filesizes are available in the "C:\WINGRIDDS\datosector_gfs\documentation" readme's. Fig.1. South America Domain. Fig.2. Mexico-Central America-Caribbean Domain.

More details on how to adjust the date issue for your PC/laptop To test how the date is stored in your Windows System please open a command window or "CMD" and type echo %date% . Once you hit enter the date will appear as your computer sees it. Lets assume that today is Wednesday July 16th 2014. For your programs to function, the variable date_string defined in each of your programs located in the folder "C:\WINGRIDDS\datosector_gfs\en" or "C:\WINGRIDDS\datosector_gfs\es" must be "20140716". This information is grabbed from the %date% variable in your system, and the trick for your programs to work is to grab this date correctly. For most Windows Systems setup in English, once you type echo %date% in the CMD Window, you will obtain "Wed 07/16/2014". To convert this to "20140716" each of your programs grab parts of the variable %date% and store it in the variable date_string. To extract the year this is done via %date:~10,4% which means that 4 digits will be extracted starting at the 10th position. You can grab the month using %date:~4,2% which means that 2 digits will be extracted starting at the 4th position. You can grab the day using %date:~7,2% which means that 2 digits will be extracted starting at the 7th position. All this can be summarized in the command set date_string=%date:~10,4%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2% that will yield date_string=20140716 and will cause your programs to work. Different options for reading the date from your Windows System Here are some examples of different ways to define the date_string variable to make your programs work, if they do not. If your system date is "Wed 16/07/2014" you will need to modify the line in each program to
::######DEFINE SYSTEM DATE AND TIME-----------------------------------------------------------
set date_string=%date:~10,4%%date:~7,2%%date:~4,2%
If your system date is "16/07/2014" you need to modify the line in each program to
::######DEFINE SYSTEM DATE AND TIME-----------------------------------------------------------
set date_string=%date:~6,4%%date:~3,2%%date:~0,2%
If your system date is "07/16/2014" you need to modify the line in each program to
::######DEFINE SYSTEM DATE AND TIME-----------------------------------------------------------
set date_string=%date:~6,4%%date:~0,2%%date:~3,2%
For some systems (as in Chile), the format for the date is "Mie 2014/07/16" so you need
::######DEFINE SYSTEM DATE AND TIME-----------------------------------------------------------
set date_string=%date:~4,4%%date:~7,2%%date:~10,2%
To use a fixed date in your system you would use
::######DEFINE SYSTEM DATE AND TIME-----------------------------------------------------------
set date_string=20140716
Remember that this would need to be modified in each of your programs located in the "C:\WINGRIDDS\datosector_gfs\en" folder for programs in English and "C:\WINGRIDDS\datosector_gfs\es" folder for programs in Spanish.