ELGOB

ELGOB (an anagram of globe!) is a tropical cyclone track generator based on titoxd's wptc-track project — written in Python. This software allows you to create high-quality visualizations of weather system tracks using various data sources.

Note: ELGOB is a (heavy) work in progress and may not support all features of the original wptc-track project. It is intended for educational and research purposes only.

Key features

• Generation of tropical cyclone track maps with customizable formatting
• Support for multiple meteorological data formats (HURDAT, HURDAT2, ATCF, JMA, etc.)
• Color customization based on different classification scales (SSHWS, JMA, IMD, etc.)
• Options to filter storms by year, name, ID, or wind intensity
• Ability to set custom or automatic geographical boundaries
• Support for visualizing different storm phases (tropical, extratropical, subtropical)
• Ability to fetch files from external archives (e.g., IBTrACS, NOAA, JMA)

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• Dependencies: matplotlib, numpy
• Optional: cartopy (for the cone.py script)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/your-username/elgob.git
cd elgob
pip install -r requirements.txt

Basic usage

cd tracks
python track.py --input EXAMPLE --format hurdat2

Common parameters

• --input: Input data file
• --format: Data format (hurdat, hurdat2, atcf, jma, md, tcr)
• --year: Storm year
• --name: Storm name
• --id: Storm numeric ID
• --wind: Filter for minimum wind speed
• --scale: Scale to use (SSHWS, JMA, IMD, AUS, MFR, JMADOM)
• --bg: Custom background image
• --res: Horizontal image resolution
• --output: Output file
• --noextra: Ignore extratropical portions of tracks
• --xmin, --xmax, --ymin, --ymax: Geographic boundaries

Directory structure

• tracks: Main Python scripts
• data: Background images and data
• png: Default output directory for images

Fetching data from external archives

You can use get.sh to fetch data from the HURDAT2 Atlantic hurricane database. This script will download the data and save it in the tracks directory.

cd tracks
./get.sh

It will download the database and ask you for the storm ID (e.g., AL012020 for Hurricane Isaias). The script will then fetch the data and save it in the tracks directory under storm_tracks.txt.

Credits

ELGOB is based on the wptc-track project. Many thanks to titoxd and the contributors for their work on this project. cone.py is based on ConeForecaster.py, written by Sohum09. The code has been modified to work with ELGOB and to support additional features.

License

See the LICENSE file for details.