These are a collection of color palettes and placefiles that I’ve created over the years for use with the Gibson Ridge suite of weather radar software (GRLevelX). All files and documentation is released under the GNU General Public License for free use, distribution, and modification. Credit is requested — but not required — where feasible.
Color Palettes
These scales apply a wider range of color and contrast to the Level-2 and Level-3 NEXRAD products than the default GR scales.
These must be saved to the local drive and can be imported in the Color Table settings.
Base Reflectivity (BR) (Min -15db | Max +100db | Download)
Matches RadarScope’s “Super-Res Reflectivity“ as of August 2019
Base Velocity (BV) (Min -140mph | Max +140mph | Download)
Increases min/max velocity to improve visualization of high wind speeds
One Hour Precipitation Totals (OHP) (Min 0in | Max +12in | Download)
Uneven increments – Increased maximum after Hurricane Harvey
Storm Total Precipitation (STP) (Min 0in | Max +25in | Download)
Uneven Increments – Increased maximum after Hurricane Harvey
Precipitation Type – Sleet (IP) (Min 0db | Max +60db | Download)
Precipitation Type – Rain (RA) (Min 0db | Max +60db | Download)
Precipitation Type – Snow (SN) (Min 0db | Max +60db | Download)
Precipitation Type – Freezing Rain (ZR) (Min 0db | Max +60db | Download)
Placefiles
Outdoor stadiums and large (NCAA Div. I-A) college campuses where it may be necessary to identify nearby lightning within a radius. Use any of the following placefiles directly by copying the URL to the Placefile Manager.
NFL Stadiums (5.5 KB)
Download or https://s3.itim.co/grlevelx/placefiles/nfl-stadiums.place
MLB Stadiums (4.8 KB)
Download or https://s3.itim.co/grlevelx/placefiles/mlb-stadiums.place
NCAA Div. I-A College Football Stadiums (20.2 KB)
Download or https://s3.itim.co/grlevelx/placefiles/cfb-stadiums.place
NCAA Div. I-A College Football Bowl & Championship Stadiums (7.3 KB)
Download or https://s3.itim.co/grlevelx/placefiles/cfb-bowls.place
NCAA Div. I-A College Campuses (In progress…)
More free placefiles can be found here.
Create Your Own Placefiles
I keep a private placefile to indicate where my friends and family live and work. You can easily create your own placefiles using the template below. Remove the curly brackets in your final placefile.
This is a simplified version of what GRLevelX can do with a placefile. Full specification on the placefile format for deeper customization can be found on the Gibson Ridge website.
{CENTER-h, CENTER-v} : int, int. The center position of the object. This will take some experimentation to get right. Ex: with font Arial Bold 11, all on one light positioned to the right, “58, -3”
{COLOR} : int int int. The RGB value of the text to be displayed. Ex: White = “255 255 255”
{DESCRIPTION} : varchar. The name of the Object that will be displayed. Ex: “Jane’s House”
{HOVER TEXT} : varchar. Optional text that will display when your mouse hovers over the icon.
{ICON NUMBER} : enum(1,2,3,4). If using the supplied icon set “buildings-16.png”, 1 = Office building, 2 = Home, 3 = School, 4 = Stadium.
{TITLE} : varchar. The name of the placefile that will be displayed in the Placefile Manager window. Ex: “Important People”
;Comment
Title: {TITLE}
Threshold: 100
RefreshSeconds: 86400 ;DO NOT REDUCE if using an iTim.co IconFile
Color: {COLOR}
IconFile: 1, 16, 16, 7, 7, "https://s3.itim.co/grlevelx/placefiles/buildings-16.png"
Font: 1, 11, 1, "Arial"
Object: 36.159756, -86.775463
Icon: 0, 0, 0, 1, {ICON NUMBER}, "{HOVER TEXT}"
Text: {CENTER-h, CENTER-v}, 1, "{DESCRIPTION}"
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