Cumulus weather software guides
Guides to Cumulus weather software, realtime files, web tags, XML, dayfile archives, graphs, station banners, mobile pages, and historical PHP projects.
- The Historical Cumulus Subdomain as a Software Citation HostThe historical Cumulus subdomain hosted station software, project pages, and realtime files—a citation host distinct from the main TNET weather-station site.
- The Cumulus Host as a Community Software OutpostThe historical Cumulus host was a community software outpost: credits, independence, and why it was not the Mesa homepage or original-team continuity.
- Sessions for Editing About Pages: The Historical Login QueryThe historical About hub used a login query so editors could change static pages under a session. This article explains that CMS pattern, not a live form.
- What a Personal Weather Site Cookie Policy Should DiscloseA cookie-policy document on a PWS: disclose preference storage versus analytics. Not legal advice, and not the engineering note on how unit cookies work.
- Members of a Personal Weather Network Are Sensor ContributorsOn a personal weather network, members are people who ran sensors—not a social club. Why contributor identity is provenance for later use of the observations.
- Why a Cumulus Site Built Tools: An About-Section Project NarrativeAn About-section narrative of why the Cumulus host built community tools—motivation, not the research map at /projects and not an information-architecture listing.
- Publishing a Weather Site’s Generator Stack as Scientific MetadataPHP, Cumulus, template name, and last-updated are scientific metadata on a personal weather site—not a credits page and not a live software inventory.
- Station Software as Metadata for Interpreting Published FilesA weather site's software name is metadata: Cumulus, Weather Display, or another program changes how published files and numbers should be read.
- Why a Number on a Weather Page Is a Live FieldWhy a temperature on a personal weather page is a live template field, not a caption the operator typed, and how a visitor should read it.
- How Visitors Contacted a Personal Weather Station OperatorHistorical PWS contact forms: how visitors reached an operator, why those endpoints attract abuse and rot, and why this URL is not a working form.
- Preserving Unit and Language Cookies When a Weather Dashboard MovesHow a weather dashboard stored units and language in cookies, and what a migration should preserve so presentation state is not mistaken for climate metadata.
- Membership Lists as Citation Instruments on Weather TemplatesA membership list on a PWS is a citation instrument: who to credit on templates and scripts, distinct from the essay on network contributor roles.
- Why Projects Appear Under About: Navigation and CitationWhy project lists sat under About as well as under /projects: navigation, citation practice, and how an About listing differs from the engineering index.
- Restricting Who Can Add a Project ListingProject listings under About were login-gated because open catalogs attracted spam and fake downloads. How access control protected the index.
- Protecting Generator and Stack Metadata from VandalismWebsite-info pages name the generator and stack. This article explains why that metadata was login-gated against vandalism, not the document itself.
- Choosing Station Software: Logger Support, Templates, and File FormatsA checklist for choosing station software: logger support, template model, and file formats, distinct from declaring what a historical site actually ran.
- Why Software-Credit Pages Were Login-GatedSoftware-credit pages were login-gated so license and attribution lines could not be edited anonymously. Sessions, not a restored login form.
- A Mini Glossary of Common Cumulus Web TagsA compact glossary of the Cumulus web tags a template author meets first: temperature, wind, rain, pressure, units, and clocks.
- AWEKAS as a European PWS Network Upload PathAWEKAS ingests personal weather stations via identity, timestamp, and units. TNET does not operate AWEKAS; this page explains the Cumulus upload contract.
- Reading Cumulus Temperature Time-Series ChartsHow to read a Cumulus temperature chart: the diurnal cycle, Celsius versus Fahrenheit axes, and rooftop versus Stevenson-screen siting bias.
- Cumulus XML as a Structured Export of Current ConditionsCumulus XML exports current observations as named elements with units. It is not a live feed, and it is not the same contract as web tags or realtime.txt.
- Cumulus Gadget Feeds as Tiny Observation PayloadsGoogle Gadget and sidebar feeds carried a tiny Cumulus observation packet into a third-party container. Trust, caching, and why those containers died.
- Why Cumulus Graph Galleries Were Login-GatedGraph galleries were login-gated to stop hotlinking and scrape load on PHP image scripts. This URL explains that access control; it is not a login form.
- A Second Graph Collection Behind Its Own LoginA second graph collection or versioned graph set could sit behind its own login. This page covers that split, not the first gallery gate and not observation charts.
- Mobile Sessions Versus Desktop Cookies on a Weather CMSMobile weather-CMS sessions differ from desktop cookies: smaller storage, stricter jars, and easier logout. This URL explains that problem; it is not a sign-in form.
- Mobile Forecast Views on a Cumulus Station SiteA mobile Cumulus forecast page must label NWS or model forecast separately from station observations. TNET is not an official warning service.
- Parsing Cumulus Station XML SafelyHow to parse a Cumulus station XML export without XXE, unbounded files, missing elements, or silent unit mistakes. Distinct from the XML format article.
- PHP Runtime Metadata for a Weather Site, Kept PrivateTreat PHP version, GD, and XML as private station-site metadata. Do not publish phpinfo-style pages; record the runtime in a private operator log.
- Analog Weather Gauges as Mapped InstrumentsDashboard gauges map temperature, pressure, and wind onto a scale. Choose bands that match the sensor, and do not imply more precision than the instrument.
- A Research Map of Cumulus-Side Engineering ProjectsA research map of Cumulus-side projects—graphs, logs, banners, WAP, tags, and checks—as engineering problems, not a packaging catalog or file dump.
- Installing a Stale-File Checker for Cumulus UploadsInstall a Cumulus stale-file checker: which paths to watch, how to set timeouts from the realtime interval, and how to send email when uploads stop.
- Finding the Right Historical Cumulus Package by FilenameHow operators matched Cumulus helper ZIP names and versions—CU-GD-banner versus jpgraph graphs—without treating this host as a download mirror.
- Wiring a Cookie Notice into a Cumulus TemplateWhere a cookie-notice include belongs in a Cumulus PHP template, what it must not block, and how to keep observations visible without storage.
- Cookie Consent on a Temperature Widget: Preference versus TrackingCookie consent on a Weather Display or Cumulus temperature widget: unit-preference cookies versus tracking cookies, kept as separate purposes.
- Installing JPGraph for Cumulus Station GraphsInstall JPGraph beside Cumulus data: PHP include path, TrueType fonts, writable cache directory, and what to use instead of a 2008 graph pack.
- METAR versus a Cumulus Personal-Weather RecordOfficial METAR is an NWS/ICAO aviation code. A hobby METAR-like string from Cumulus is a compact PWS encoding and cannot claim that official status.
- Migrating dayfile.txt Across Cumulus VersionsMove a Cumulus dayfile.txt from legacy builds to MX: column drift, date and decimal consistency, backup, and a dry-run before replacing the live file.
- Analog Thermometer Graphics as a Mapped Temperature ScaleA PHP GD thermometer maps Cumulus temperature onto a min/max scale with an ice-point mark. Decorative scales that distort the observation are a fault.
- Setting Up a Cumulus PHP GD Station BannerSet up a Cumulus PHP GD banner: enable the GD extension, point TrueType fonts, choose cron versus on-demand rendering, and keep the script off the live packet path.
- How Cumulus Banner Example Files Were Laid Out on DiskDisk layout of historical Cumulus banner examples: filename patterns, metric versus imperial folders, and why a gallery directory is not a skin pack.
- Turning On a Cumulus Realtime Snapshot LoggerEnable a Cumulus realtime logger: which fields to append from realtime.txt, how to size the disk budget, and how this differs from log rotation.
- Rotating Realtime Weather Logs Without Dropping ExtremesLog rotation and retention for weather realtime archives: daily and monthly files, disk budget, and not silently deleting the samples that held extremes.
- What a Weather-Software Reference Page Must ContainA reference hub for Cumulus community tools: the inputs, outputs, versions, license, and breaking changes every project card should document.
- How to Document a Stale-Upload CheckerReference notes for documenting a weather-station stale-upload checker: expected files, timeout meaning, and false positives such as ISP outage versus station down.
- Weather Avatar Reference: Required Fields, Size, and Cache HeadersReference card for PHP-GD weather avatars: required observation fields, image size, and HTTP cache headers that keep a small identity image honest.
- GD Weather Banner Reference: Dimensions, Fonts, and Unit StringsReference card for PHP-GD weather banners: canvas dimensions, font requirements, and unit strings copied from the station packet rather than assumed.
- How to Document a WAP Weather EndpointHow to document a WAP weather endpoint: MIME types, character encoding, and a dated test-handset matrix, not project history or live serving.
- Editorial Standards for a Weather-Tool WikiEditorial standards for documenting weather-station tools on a wiki: cite software versions, do not paste binaries, and keep field maps dated.
- Weather Events in iCalendar: What Belongs in an ICS FileWhat belongs in a weather ICS calendar: almanac times, forecast valid-times, and observed extremes, plus Google Calendar-era timezone pitfalls.
- The Cumulus RSS Project: Generating a Feed from Station FilesHow a Cumulus RSS project builds a syndication document from realtime.txt, web tags, and XML—distinct from the HTTP endpoint that later serves that feed.
- Heartbeats for a Weather WebsiteHeartbeats for a weather website: checking that Cumulus realtime.txt and web-file uploads arrived, with stale-data detection as quality control.
- Named Cumulus Packages and Why the Binaries Stay OfflineCatalog of named Cumulus packages—graphs, banners, logs, checks, dayfile, WAP—and why this host describes each job instead of rehosting ZIPs.
- Preference Cookies and Cookie Notices on Personal Weather SitesCookie consent on personal weather sites that also store units and language: the engineering tension under historical EU cookie rules, not legal advice.
- Plotting Cumulus Observations with JPGraphJPGraph time-series of Cumulus temperature, pressure, and rain: axis units, missing samples, and why a graph pack existed as a scientific figure—not a download.
- Cumulus dayfile.txt as a Daily Climate AppendixCumulus dayfile.txt as a daily climate appendix: one row per day of max, min, and rain, how parsing differs from realtime.txt, and monthly-summary provenance.
- Cumulus Weather Avatars: Information Density at 80×80An 80×80 Cumulus weather avatar can carry one labeled scalar, not a banner. What must be dropped for forum signatures, and why density is a scientific limit.
- Rendering a Cumulus Station Banner from Web Tags with PHP GDMap Cumulus web tags and realtime fields onto a 468×60 PHP GD banner: which values fit, how units stay readable, and why a cached PNG is not live.
- Cumulus Banner Variants as a Visual Style GuideA gallery of Cumulus banner variants—day/night, metric/imperial—is a style guide for contrast and units, not a download of skins or a second generator.
- Accumulating realtime.txt Snapshots into a High-Frequency LogAccumulating Cumulus realtime.txt snapshots into a high-frequency log for later analysis: sample interval versus file growth, distinct from log rotation.
- The TNET Web-Tags Project: Extra Tokens in Cumulus TemplatesTNET's web-tags project added extra tokens to Cumulus templates via extra web files and PHP includes: an extension pattern, not the tag language.
- The TNET WAP Project: Cumulus Observations on Feature PhonesTNET's historical WAP project brought Cumulus observations to feature phones under WML and tiny-payload limits—not the serving deck at /wap.php.
- A Project Wiki as Documentation for Cumulus Community ToolsWhy a project wiki beat forum-thread documentation for Cumulus community tools, and how the historical TNET wiki differed from the official Cumulus Wiki.
- The Cumulus-Host RSS Endpoint: What Consumers Should RequireConsumers of cumulus.tnetweather.com/rss.php should require observation time, units, and station coordinates. This is not tnetweather.com/index.rss.
- Sample Weather Graphs Need Figure CaptionsA sample Cumulus graph is an illustration, not a station record, until it names the station, period, units, and that the figure is demo data.
- Fetching Official METAR and TAF to Compare with a Nearby PWSHow to fetch official METAR/TAF for comparison with a Cumulus station: aviationweather.gov provenance, stale reports, distance, and why a PWS is not a METAR.
- Layout QA for a Three-Column Weather PageTest a three-column weather layout—current, forecast, and webcam—for overflow, unit labels, and print. A public /test/ URL is a security smell.
- Cross-Station Graph Fixtures Need a Foreign-Station LabelA Brampton Weather graph on this host is a foreign-station fixture. Label that source; never present it as this site’s observations or current weather.
- Validating a Dayfile Parser Against a Fixture FileValidate a Cumulus dayfile parser against a pinned fixture: row count, max, min, and rain columns. Not a live /test/ debugger or current weather.
- Two Dayfile Fixtures When the Column Set ForksTwo dayfile test URLs exist because column sets fork. Keep a v1 fixture and a v2 fixture; never merge schemas or expose a live /test/ parser.
- Webcam Sliders Must Honor Timestamp Order, Not AutoplayNivo-style webcam sliders on weather sites must play in timestamp order. Autoplay that shuffles frames is not a sequence test or plugin promo.
- A Station XML Test Harness Must Fail Closed on XXEA Cumulus XML test harness uses golden files and must fail closed on XXE. Do not expose a live public /test/parsexml.php debugger.
- Visual Regression for Temperature Test ImagesA temperature test image maps known input to known pixels and legend text. Visual regression for GD thermometers is not a live weather banner.
- Cumulus Web Tags as a Data-Binding VocabularyCumulus web tags bind temperature, wind, rain, extra sensors, and timestamps to template slots. How a tag maps to a field, and what to do when names change.
- Monthly Trends from a Single Personal Weather StationMonthly PWS charts need sample size and missing-day handling. NCEI climate normals are context for a backyard series, not proof of climate change.
- Serving a Mobile Weather Deck from Cumulus ObservationsHow a Cumulus mobile weather deck is served: content negotiation, and why a small-screen observation still needs units and a timestamp to be complete.
- Second-Generation Mobile Weather Pages: XHTML-MP versus WMLWhy Cumulus sites kept /wap2.php beside /wap.php: XHTML Mobile Profile and early smartphone CSS versus WML, plus viewport and accessibility.
- Experimental Webcam Overlays Are Not Sky ObservationsTimestamp and weather-text overlays on a PWS webcam need a synced clock. A stamped JPEG frame is still not a calibrated cloud or sky observation.
- How a Personal Weather Station Webcam Pipeline WorkedA PWS webcam pipeline is capture, optional stamp, upload, then a page. Interval, exposure, and neighbor privacy matter more than the gadget brand.
- Named Camera IDs in a Multi-Camera Weather ArchiveSOMT1 is a historical camera identifier, not a live feed. Multi-camera weather archives need camera ID, location, and time on every display page.
- Cumulus Station Software and the Historical TNET Project FamilyCumulus as station software and the historical TNET project family of graphs, realtime logs, banners, WAP, and web tags: a research overview, not a download catalog.
- One-Shot Conversion of Cumulus and Weather Display-Era FilesWhy convert1 existed: a one-shot migrator for units, date-time, and CSV/XML between Cumulus and Weather Display-era files. This page does not rehost a converter.