JStrack (Tcl/Tk-based Hurricane Tracking Program)

Links

Web Sites Using JStrack ... looks like they both went offline...oh well.
Tcl/Tk sites
- dev.scriptics.com - The new home for Tcl/Tk development.
- The Tcl'ers Wiki - A GREAT resource for Tcl/Tk users.
Hurricane Related Web Sites (most definitely not a complete list!)
- NHC Tropical Prediction Center
- The Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State University
- The Caribbean Hurricane Network - Local Reports on Tropical Systems threatening the Caribbean Islands
  A practical guide to hurricane tracking and plotting
- Florida Division of Emergency Management
- Okaloosa County Emergency Management Office
  Hurricane/Disaster Info (including local shelters, radio info, storm surge maps, etc.)

WX-ATLAN: Getting NHC Advisories via E-mail

WX-ATLAN is a mailing list (formerly the Atlantic/Caribbean/Gulf topic in the WX-TROPL list). You can subscribe to it by sending e-mail to listserv@po.uiuc.edu, with the following line in the body of the e-mail:

sub wx-atlan [your full name]

The listserv will confirm that you really want to be subscribed to this list, and will give you instructions to follow to complete the process. Once the listserv confirms that it has subscribed you to the list, you can choose from various topics (by default, you only get the updates, which are a one-paragraph or so note listing the storms, if any, that the NHC is tracking). I would suggest setting this to ALL, and then trimming it down later. To set the topics to ALL, send another e-mail to listserv@po.uiuc.edu, with the following line in the body of the e-mail:

set wx-atlan topics: all

At a minimum, for JStrack (assuming you're filtering incoming e-mail via something like procmail, and passing NHC/TPC products to filt.tcl), you should set the following:

set wx-atlan topics: outlook,forecast,advisory,strmdisc,strike

The outlook topic is not used by JStrack, but it's good for keeping up with what the NHC is watching, even if it's not named yet.

You can also go to the WX-ATLAN Site on the UIUC listserv for archives, to join/leave the list, or to change your settings for the list.

procmail: Processing NHC Advisories Automatically As They Arrive via E-mail

In order to actually use the WX-ATLAN stuff automatically, you need an e-mail filter program that will recognize the NHC/TPC products and pipe a copy to the standard input of JStrack's filter program (filt/filt.tcl). The freeware program, procmail is ideal for this purpose (as well as filtering of other e-mail).

Here's how you set it up:

Download the source for procmail from www.procmail.org.
Configure and compile procmail following their instructions for the Unix variant that you're running
Assuming you're root, configure procmail to serve as your MDA (Mail Delivery Agent). RTFM in the procmail docs for how to do that with the MTA you're using (e.g., sendmail, postfix, smail, etc.).
Assuming you're NOT root, you'll need to use procmail from your $HOME/.forward file (again, RTFM in the procmail docs---they tell you how to do this).
Create a $HOME/.procmailrc from their examples, and include the following (note that the directories given are for my machine---edit as needed):
```
      # the 'w' says keep the lockfile until the filter finishes!
      :0 cw:
      * ^To.*WX-ATLAN
      * ^Subject.*(ADVISORY|FORECAST|STRMDISC|STRIKE):
      |/home/jim/src/ht/filt/filt.tcl
```
Btw, remove the leading spaces---those are there for readability here.
Subscribe to WX-ATLAN (see instructions above)

After that, as advisories arrive via e-mail, they're automatically processed by JStrack's filter program (whether the tracking portion of the code is running or not, and, obviously, regardless of whether or not you're logged on).