Meteorological Convention Sources

Third Party Sources

Organization links
ECMWF http://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/charts/catalogue
MeteoCenter http://www.meteocenter.eu/
Unisys http://weather.unisys.com/
NCEP
(NOAA)
http://mag.ncep.noaa.gov/
SPC
(NOAA / NWS)
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/sref/
EMC
(NOAA / NCEP)
http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/mmb/SREF/SREF.html
FNMOC https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/wxmap_cgi/index.html?tab=global#global
NCAR / UCAR http://weather.rap.ucar.edu/model/index.php?model=eta
ESRL
(NOAA)
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/map/wx/short.shtml
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/map/images/ens/ens.html

Coded Examples

image1
Source: ECMWF
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map land mass – beige
Color Map wind speed (every 5) – yellow-green
Contours mean sea level pressure (every 5 [units converts to 50]) – black
image2
Source: ECMWF
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map temperature (every 4) – rainbow
Contours geopotential heights (every 12 [units converts to 120]) – blue
Contours land mass – brown
image3
Source: ECMWF
Forecast Type: ensemble & deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map standard deviation (increasing step size) – greens and pinks, primarily
Contours temperature (every 4 [units converts to 40]) – red and blue
Color Map land mass – beige and blue

Link to current equivalent due to lack of explicit reproducibility permissions

Source: MeteoCenter
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map temperature (every 1) – rainbow
Contours temperature (every 5) – white
Contours land mass – black

Link to current equivalent due to lack of explicit reproducibility permissions

Source: MeteoCenter
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Contours land mass – white
Glyphs wind – wind barbs (rainbow)
image6
Source: NCEP (via reproduction by CNFRC)
Forecast Type: deterministic
Color Map precipitation (every 0.5) – yellow-green
Contours geopotential heights (every 6 [units converts to 60]) – black
Contours land mass – brown
Glyphs wind – wind barbs (blue/black)
image7
Source: NCEP (via reproduction by CNFRC)
Forecast Type: deterministic
Color Map wind (every 20) – blue-purple
Contours wind (every 20) – blue
Contours geopotential heights (every 12 [units converts to 120]) – black
Contours land mass – brown
Glyphs wind – wind barbs (blue/black)
image8
Source: Unisys
Forecast Type: deterministic
Color Map temperature (every 2) – rainbow
Contours geopotential heights (can’t read step) – white
Contours land mass – black
Glyphs wind – scaled arrows (white)
image9
Source: Unisys
Forecast Type: deterministic
Color Map temperature (every 4) – rainbow
Contours convergence (unknown step) – black
Contours dewpoint (unknown step) – red-white scheme, includes both bold and non-bold
Glyphs wind – scaled arrows (white)
image10
Source: Unisys
Forecast Type: deterministic
Color Map precipitation (low step, ramps to 1) – rainbow-ish
Contours sea level pressure (every 4) – cyan
Contours 1000–500 Thickness (unknown step) – yellow, dotted and solid
Contours land mass – red
image11
Source: NCEP
Forecast Type: ensemble
Contours ensemble members – rainbow
Contours land mass – brown
Additional Note: spaghetti plot, 2 isovalues
image12
Source: NCEP
Forecast Type: ensemble
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map spread of geopotential height (every 10, then every 20) – rainbow-ish
Texture Map spread of vorticity (unknown step) – hatch pattern
Contours mean geopotential height (unknown step) – black
Contours mean vorticity (unknown step) – brown, dashed
Contours land mass – black
image13
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Source: NCEP
Forecast Type: ensemble
Color Map spread of winds (ramp to every 5) – rainbow-ish
Contours land mass – black
Glyphs wind – wind barbs (black)
image14
Source: NCEP (via reproduction by Golden Gate Weather)
Forecast Type: deterministic
Contours temperature (every 3) – red-blue
Contours geopotential height (every 3 [units converts to 30]) – black
Contours land mass – brown
Glyphs wind – wind barbs (blue/black)
image15
Source: NCEP (via reproduction by Golden Gate Weather)
Forecast Type: ensemble
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map spread of temperature (appx every 1%) – rainbow-ish
Contours mean temperature (every 4) – black
Contours land mass – black
image16
Source: SPC
Forecast Type: ensemble
Color Map probability (>=50) – orange-red
Contours probability (every 10) – purple
Contours mean isocontour (single value) – black, dashed
Contours land mass – black
image17
Source: SPC
Forecast Type: ensemble
Color Map standard deviation (every 5, 10) – rainbow-ish
Contours mean relative humidity (every 10) – purple
Contours mean isocontour (single value) – black, dashed
Contours land mass – black
image18
Source: SPC
Forecast Type: ensemble
Color/Texture Map max wind (every 5, >= 15) – rainbow-ish, hatch
Contours max wind (every 5) – purple
Contours land mass – black
Glyphs wind – wind barbs (purple)
image19
Source: SPC
Forecast Type: ensemble
Contours isocontour condition union of members – red, dashed
Contours isocontour condition intersection of members – blue, dashed
Contours isocontour median of members - dewpoint (20,25,30,35) – grey/green
Contours land mass – black
image 20
Source: EMC
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Forecast Type: ensemble
Color Map % spread (increase to 10) – rainbow
Contours mean relative humidity (every 10) – black
Contours land mass – black
image 21
Source: EMC
Forecast Type: ensemble
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map % spread (increase to 2) – rainbow
Contours mean temperature (every 5) – black
Contours land mass – black
image 22
Source: EMC
Forecast Type: ensemble
Contours probability (every 10) – rainbow
Contours land mass – black
image 23
Source: FNMOC
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map land mass – grey
Color Map wind (step 5, >=15) – blue-red
Streamlines wind – dark blue/green
Contours land mass – black
Glyphs wind – wind barbs (red/orange)
image 24
Source: FNMOC
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map land mass – grey
Color Map rh (70,80,90) – green
Contours temperature (step 3) – red-purple (variation on red-blue)
Contours land mass – black
Glyphs wind – wind barbs (black)
image 29
Source: FNMOC
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map land mass – grey
Color Map relative vorticity (step 2) – blue-red
Contours geopotential heights (step 60) – black
Contours land mass – black
image 30
Source: FNMOC
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map land mass – grey
Color Map rh (50,70,90) – green
Contours vertical velocity (0.1 Pa/s) – red-blue
Contours geopotential heights (step 30) – brown
Contours land mass – black
image 31
Source: FNMOC
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map land mass – grey
Contours mean sea level pressure (step 0.4 in/hg) – red
Contours land mass – black
image 32
Source: FNMOC
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map land mass – grey
Color Map probability (0,20,30,40,50) – green-red
Contours geopotential height (step 120) – black
Contours land mass – black
image 33
Source: FNMOC
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map temperature-based (step 5) – rainbow
Contours land mass – black
image 34
Source: FNMOC
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map land mass – grey
Contours thickness (528,540,552,564) – red-blue
Contours mean sea level pressure (step 4 [units converted to 40]) – yellow
Contours land mass – black
image 35
Source: FNMOC
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map temperature (step 5) – rainbow
Contours land mass – black
image 36
Source: FNMOC
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map tropopause pressure (step 5) – rainbow
Contours tropopause pressure – red
Contours land mass – black
Additional Note unclear on how red contours and color map combine for meaningful interpretation
image 25
Source: FNMOC
Forecast Type: ensemble
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map land mass – grey
Color Map % potential error (ramp to 5) – red-green
Contours mean relative humidity (step 10) – black
Contours land mass – black
image 26
Source: NCAR
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map land mass – grey, blue
Color Map wind (increasing step, 30–150 range) – red-yellow
Contours geopotential heights (step 12 [units converts to 120]) – black
Contours land mass – grey
Glyphs wind – wind barbs (black)
image 27
Source: NCAR
Forecast Type: deterministic
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map land mass – grey, blue
Color Map rh (70,80,90) – green
Contours temperature (step 3) – red-blue
Contours geopotential heights (step 3 [units converts to 30]) – black
Contours land mass – grey
image 28
Source: ESRL
Forecast Type: deterministic
Color Map temperature (step 5) – rainbow
Contours geopotential heights (step 3 [units converts to 30]) – black
Contours land mass – black
image 37
Source: ESRL
Forecast Type: ensemble
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map mean precipitation (ramp 2.5 to 25) – rainbow
Contours standard deviation (ramp 2.5 to 5) – black
Contours land mass – white
image 38
Source: ESRL
Forecast Type: ensemble
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Contours isovalues across ensemble – blue, red
Contours control members – yellow, grey
Contours CLIM (?) – green
Contours land mass – white
image 39
Source: ESRL
Forecast Type: ensemble
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map standard deviation (step 10) – rainbow
Contours land mass – white
image 41
Source: ESRL
Forecast Type: ensemble
Lines: projected lat/long grid
Color Map mean sea level pressure (step 60) – rainbow
Contours thickness (isovalues unclear) – green, red
Contours land mass – white