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Weather station scripts - Forecast Canada

They're free, but use at your own risk

The scripts referenced here are used in the operation of this weather station, and may be freely copied and used to support your station. Please note that you use these scripts at your own risk. No warranty is expressed or implied. I accept no liability for any damages that may ensue from their use.
You will need to configure them for your own particular weather station website.
RSS feed for Scripts Updates A RSS Feed is available to help keep you informed on updates to the scripts.

Many of these scripts are now available on GitHub at https://github.com/ktrue

Buy Me A Coffee If you find one or more of the scripts useful to you, please consider making a donation to help offset the routine expenses of operation of this website.
Thanks for your kind support!

A Version History is available -- check back from time to time to see if there are updates to scripts you have downloaded earlier. Announcements of version updates and new scripts are made on WXForum.net and Weather-Watch forums and saratogaWXPHP Twitter account as they become available.

Note: Twitter widget has been disabled 3-Jul-2023 since it no longer displays the recent update Tweets.

This page was updated Monday, 28-Oct-2024 2:33 PM

Environment Canada forecast script (for www.weatheroffice.gc.ca)

This script is along the lines of the carterlake.org NOAA 5-day script especially for the Canadian stations using Environment Canada as the source of the data. It uses a new set of customized icons with PoP displayed like the www.crh.noaa.gov website used by Tom's script. Examples:

Partly Cloudy PoP: 40% ==> Partly Cloudy
Rain and snow PoP: 100% ==> Rain and snow
Thunderstorm PoP: 70% ==> Thunderstorm

To use it, you need to download the ec-forecast-V6-02.zip file and unzip, then upload to your website. The scripts and GIF icons are included in the zip file. The script also requires the URL for the printable forecast for your area. Instructions are included with the source file and the ec-forecast-README.txt for the script.

As of V2.16, ec-forecast.php now supports the new transparent PNG icons created by Thayer Fox who has kindly permitted distribution from this site.
As of V3.00, the ZIP version contains these PNG icons.

Partly Cloudy PoP: 40% ==> Partly Cloudy
Rain and snow PoP: 100% ==> Rain and snow
Thunderstorm PoP: 70% ==> Thunderstorm

Download and unpack the ec-icons-png.zip and configure the ec-forecast.php to use the .png images in the settings area.

The script supports both English and French languages via the lang=en or lang=fr parameter.

Weather Advisory
1:29 p.m. EST Saturday 8 February 2025

Weather Advisory in effect for:
  • St. Catharines - Grimsby - Northern Niagara Region
Winter weather travel advisory in effect for this afternoon and tonight.

What:
Snowfall accumulations of 10 to 15 cm.
Reduced visibility in areas of heavier snow.

When:
Beginning this afternoon, continuing tonight.

Additional information:
Snow associated with a fast moving low pressure system will begin this afternoon. The heaviest snowfall is expected this evening. Snow will taper to flurries early Sunday morning.

Motorists should expect hazardous winter driving conditions and adjust travel plans accordingly. Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become difficult to navigate due to accumulating snow. Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow.

Be prepared to adjust your driving with changing road conditions. Slow down driving in slippery conditions. Watch for taillights ahead and maintain a safe following distance.

Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. To report severe weather, send an email to ONstorm@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports using #ONStorm.

Observed at: St. Catharines / Niagara District Airport
Date: 2:00 PM EST Saturday 8 February 2025
Cloudy
Cloudy
Temp.: -2 °C
Wind Chill: -6 °C
Wind: ENE 11 km/h
Humidity: 63 %
Dew point: -8 °C
Pressure: 102.0 kPa
Tendency: 0.35 kPa
Visibility: 24 km
Sunrise: 7:25
Sunset: 17:39
Normals:
Max -1°C Min -8°C
 Extended Forecast - Environment Canada
Today
Periods of snow
Periods of snow
Max: -2°C
Sun, 9 Feb
Periods of light snow
Periods of light snow
Max: 0°C
Mon, 10 Feb
Sunny
Sunny
Max: -2°C
Tue, 11 Feb
Chance of flurries (30%)
Chance of flurries
Max: -4°C
Wed, 12 Feb
Chance of flurries (30%)
Chance of flurries
Max: -5°C
Thu, 13 Feb
Snow
Snow
Max: -2°C
Fri, 14 Feb
A mix of sun and cloud
A mix of sun and cloud
Max: -3°C
Tonight
Periods of snow
Periods of snow
Min: -3°C
Night
Cloudy periods
Cloudy periods
Min: -8°C
Night
Cloudy periods
Cloudy periods
Min: -6°C
Night
Chance of flurries (30%)
Chance of flurries
Min: -9°C
Night
Snow
Snow
Min: -7°C
Night
Cloudy periods
Cloudy periods
Min: -7°C
 

Forecast

St. Catharines, ON (Issued: 11:00 AM EST Saturday 8 February 2025)

Today
Mainly cloudy. Periods of snow beginning late this afternoon. Wind becoming east 20 km/h late this afternoon. High minus 2. Wind chill near minus 8. UV index 2 or low.
Tonight
Periods of snow. Amount 10 to 15 cm. Wind east 20 km/h becoming northwest 20 near midnight. Low minus 3. Wind chill near minus 9.
Sun, 9 Feb
Periods of light snow ending in the morning then cloudy. Wind northwest 20 km/h becoming light early in the morning. Wind becoming west 20 gusting to 40 in the morning. High zero. Wind chill minus 9 in the morning. UV index 1 or low.
Night
Clear. Low minus 8.
Mon, 10 Feb
Sunny. High minus 2.
Night
Cloudy periods. Low minus 6.
Tue, 11 Feb
Cloudy with 30 percent chance of flurries. High minus 4.
Night
Cloudy with 30 percent chance of flurries. Low minus 9.
Wed, 12 Feb
A mix of sun and cloud with 30 percent chance of flurries. High minus 5.
Night
Snow. Low minus 7.
Thu, 13 Feb
Snow. High minus 2.
Night
Cloudy periods. Low minus 7.
Fri, 14 Feb
A mix of sun and cloud. High minus 3.

24 Hour Forecast - St. Catharines, ON

Date/Time Temp.
(°C)

Weather Conditions

LOP †
Wind
(km/h)
8 February 2025
3 PM -2 Cloudy (20%)  Cloudy 20 NE 15
4 PM -2 Periods of snow (80%)  Periods of snow 80 E 20
5 PM -2 Periods of snow (80%)  Periods of snow 80 E 20
6 PM -2 Snow (100%)  Snow 100 E 20
7 PM -2 Snow (100%)  Snow 100 E 10
8 PM -2 Snow (100%)  Snow 100 E 10
9 PM -2 Snow (100%)  Snow 100 E 10
10 PM -2 Snow (100%)  Snow 100 E 10
11 PM -2 Snow (100%)  Snow 100 E 10
9 February 2025
12 AM -3 Snow (100%)  Snow 100 E 10
1 AM -3 Snow (100%)  Snow 100 VR 5
2 AM -3 Snow (100%)  Snow 100 VR 5
3 AM -3 Periods of light snow (100%)  Periods of light snow 100 VR 5
4 AM -3 Periods of light snow (100%)  Periods of light snow 100 NW 20
5 AM -3 Periods of light snow (100%)  Periods of light snow 100 NW 20
6 AM -3 Periods of light snow (80%)  Periods of light snow 80 NW 20
7 AM -3 Periods of light snow (80%)  Periods of light snow 80 W 10
8 AM -3 Periods of light snow (80%)  Periods of light snow 80 W 10
9 AM -3 Cloudy (20%)  Cloudy 20 W 10
10 AM -3 Cloudy (20%)  Cloudy 20 W 20
11 AM -2 Cloudy (20%)  Cloudy 20 W 20
12 PM -1 Cloudy (20%)  Cloudy 20 W 20
1 PM 0 Cloudy (20%)  Cloudy 20 W 20 gust 40
2 PM 0 Cloudy (20%)  Cloudy 20 W 20 gust 40
 
† Likelihood of Precipitation (LOP) as described in the public forecast as a chance of measurable precipitation for a period of time.
  Nil: 0%
  Low: 40% or below
  Medium: 60% or 70%
  High: Above 70%

Environment Canada

With Version 1.08, a new $currentConditions string is formatted with the current conditions of the selected city. If the city's conditions are based on a nearby airport, then a current conditions icon and short weather description are included. You can enable automatic printout by using $showConditions = true; in the ec-forecast.php script which will cause it to print before the alerts and forecast section. If you're 'quitely' including the script on your page, you can still print $currentConditions; where you'd like the conditions display to appear.

Version 2.00 brings a major rewrite of the script to accomodate a major change in the EC Forecast pages. Included with the .ZIP distribution are the new icons now in use by EC for the forecast site. The V2.00 script is compatible with the prior icon set distributed with the Version 1.nn script.

Version 2.16 included multi-forecast capability, improved diagnostics, support for the new transparent PNG icons, and additional settings for display of date with icon and/or detail forecast legend.

Version 3.00 is a major rewrite to support the EC website changes in October, 2014. The .zip distribution now includes the current .PNG format weather icons with POP stamps.

Version 3.02 has a major change in display of the temperature forecasts with the icons. It is now done by an extract of the value from the detail text forecast instead of the old method of using the values from the icon HTML. This should provide a more consistent presentation of Min/Max values for the icons.

Version 4.02 now uses cURL functions and uses HTTPS to access the EC website.

Version 5.00 is a major rewrite of the script to use the EC XML data instead of page scraping the EC website. V5.00 includes an Almanac and a 24-hour rolling forecast that can be displayed via new settings (default is to display both). The XML parsing should insulate us from further tweaks with the EC website page design as the XML format is unchanged for many years.

Version 6.00 is a major rewrite of the script to use EC JSON data instead of the deprecated XML citypage data for forecasts/alerts. The new alert display mimics that display available on the EC website with a bar for each alert that has clickable areas to expand the details of the alert as a dropdown. The $alertstring variable has the HTML and JavaScript to enable this new display.

Observed at: St. Catharines / Niagara District Airport
Date: 2:00 PM EST Saturday 8 February 2025
Cloudy
Cloudy
Temp.: -2 °C
Wind Chill: -6 °C
Wind: ENE 11 km/h
Humidity: 63 %
Dew point: -8 °C
Pressure: 102.0 kPa
Tendency: 0.35 kPa
Visibility: 24 km
Sunrise: 7:25
Sunset: 17:39
Normals:
Max -1°C Min -8°C

You can also access the 'maxmin' for the location (where available on the EC site) by using

 <?php
print "For this date:<br/>\n";
print $conditions['maxmin'] . "<br/>\n";
?>

which would show:

For this date:
Normals: Max -1°C Min -8°C

Environment Canada Forecast PHP script: demo, in-page demo, and download package ,
download ec-forecast.php source only
download required ec-forecast-lookup.txt source only [ see version history ].

Version history

  • Version 6.02 - 28-Oct-2024 - fixed alert display when there are highway alerts
  • Version 6.01 - 26-Oct-2024 - fix for hourly display icons when using .png icons
  • Version 6.00 - 26-Oct-2024 - rewrite to use new EC JSON return instead of XML citypage
  • Version 5.07 - 02-Jul-2024 - fixes for changes in EC XML returns w/o almanac section
  • Version 5.06 - 18-May-2023 - added 'advisory' alert display formatting to be same as 'statement' type display
  • Version 5.05 - 09-Feb-2023 - fixes for .png icons and PHP 8.2
  • Version 5.04 - 27-Dec-2022 - fixes for PHP 8.1
  • Version 5.03 - 16-Oct-2019 - change XML access URL to https on EC site
  • Version 5.02 - 20-Nov-2017 - added wind-gust display to conditions box and hourly display, fix no conds icon issue
  • Version 5.01 - 07-Nov-2017 - added windchill display to conditions box
  • Version 5.00 - 27-Sep-2017 - major rewrite of the script to use EC XML data instead of page scraping the EC website. Added Almanac and 24-hour rolling forecast displays.
  • Version 4.03 - 31-Aug-2017 - fixes for icons due to EC website changes
  • Version 4.02 - 22-Feb-2017 - force HTTPS to EC website, improved error handling
  • Version 4.01 - 27-Oct-2016 - fix for conditions icon extract, yesterday data, use curl fetch for URL
  • Version 4.00 - 22-Oct-2016 - rewrite for major EC website design changes
  • Version 3.05 - 16-Dec-2015 - fixes for temperature forecast wording changes+extraction
  • Version 3.04 - 14-Dec-2015 - fixes for change in EC website (chunked+gzipped response)
  • Version 3.03 - 01-Dec-2015 - fixes for current conditions due to EC website changes.
  • Version 3.02 - 29-Apr-2015 - fixes for major change in EC website. Temperatures now extracted from detailed text forecasts.
  • Version 3.01 - 23-Dec-2014 - fixes for 'Normals'/'Sun times' extracts, text forecast, and .png PoP icons

 

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