Obtaining Weather Maps



Compuserve offers various

weather maps for display or

download using appropriate

software. BJ Gleason has written

an RLE graphics viewer which is

available in the libraries. The

weather maps will have most

interest to pilots but can be of

use to anyone. The two RLE

maps available are 1) Radar

Summary - which shows in

graphis form, all areas of

precipitation in the US and 2)

Low Level Depiction chart -

which shows in graphic form the

level of clouds and visibility. The

depiction chart shows the following

areas:



        IFR  - low clouds and/or

        low visibility - usually

        nasty weather



        MVFR - ceiling above

        1,000 ft and visibility

        above   3 miles - but not

        by much



        VFR  -  ceiling well over

        1,000 ft and visibility well

        in excess of 3 miles



        As you can see you can

get a pretty good picture of the

weather anywhere in the nation

by looking at these two charts.



        To get the charts in a

form usable by BJ's program, go

to the maps section of

Compuserve by typing "GO

MAPS". In the maps section you

want to get the RLE maps that

are selections 11 an 12. Just

type 11 or 12 at the prompt and

you will probably be advised 

that your terminal does not

support a display of the map.

Ignore this warning and proceed.

Pick which of the views of the

map you want (ie. a region or the

whole US) and before you press

return, open a text capture buffer

using your terminal program. Then

press return and you will then see a

bunch of garbage characters

being downloaded. When this is

finished, close the buffer and you

will have a file that can be

displayed with BJ's viewer.