5. Write MPR

5.1. Description

This program writes data to an output file in MET’s Matched Pair (MPR) format. It takes several inputs, which are described in the list below. The script will compute the observation input and total number of observations. It will also check to see if the output directory is present and will create that directory if it does not exist.

5.2. Example

Examples for how to use this script can be found in the driver scripts of the use cases listed below.

• Stratosphere Polar

• Blocking

• Weather Regime

5.3. Information about Input Data

At this time, all input arrays have to be one dimensional only and should be the same size. The script does not make an attempt to check if input arrays are the same size. If any of your input arrays are larger than the observation input array, the data will be chopped at the length of the observation input. If an array is shorter than the observation input, the program will error.

Currently, the the following variables cannot be set and will be output as NA: FCST_THRESH, OBS_THRESH, COV_THRESH, ALPHA, OBS_QC, CLIMO_MEAN, CLIMO_STDEV, CLIMO_CDF. Additionally the following variables also cannot be set and have default values: INTERP_MTHD = NEAREST, INTERP_PNTS = 1, and OBTYPE = ADPUPA.

data_fcst: 1D array float

forecast data to write to MPR file

data_obs: 1D array float

observation data to write to MPR file

lats_in: 1D array float

data latitudes

lons_in: 1D array float

data longitudes

fcst_lead: 1D array string of format HHMMSS

forecast lead time

fcst_valid: 1D array string of format YYYYmmdd_HHMMSS

forecast valid time

obs_lead: 1D array string of format HHMMSS

observation lead time

obs_valid: 1D array string of format YYYYmmdd_HHMMSS

observation valid time

mod_name: string

output model name (the MODEL column in MET)

desc: string

output description (the DESC column in MET)

fcst_var: 1D array string

forecast variable name

fcst_unit: 1D array string

forecast variable units

fcst_lev: 1D array string

forecast variable level

obs_var: 1D array string

observation variable name

obs_unit: 1D array string

observation variable units

obs_lev: 1D array string

observation variable level

maskname: string

name of the verification masking region

obsslev: 1D array string

Pressure level of the observation in hPA or accumulation interval in hours

outdir: string

Full path including where the output data should go

outfile_prefix: string

Prefix to use for the output filename. The time stamp will be added in MET’s format based off the first forecast time

5.4. Run from a python script

• Make sure you have these required Python packages:

  • Python 3.7

  • metcalcpy

  • numpy

  • os

write_mpr_file(data_fcst,data_obs,lats_in,lons_in,fcst_lead,fcst_valid,obs_lead,obs_valid,mod_name,desc,fcst_var,fcst_unit,fcst_lev,obs_var,obs_unit,obs_lev,maskname,obsslev,outdir,outfile_prefix)

The output fill be a .stat file located in outdir with data in MET’s Matched Pair Format. The file will be labeled with outfile_prefix and then have lead time, valid YYYYMMDD, and valid HHMMSS stamped onto the file name.