Topic: Point Forecast Down?

[92merc]

Yesterday afternoon, both of my V4 and V5 versions wouldn't work.  This morning, I was finally able to flip back to V4.  But V5 still shows as down.

[DaculaWeather]

v5 is working with no problems here today. I wonder how much of these problems are local NWS office related issues?

I've got the email address of the Atlanta NWS tech guy and he is usually on it pretty quickly. But again, they shouldn't be having issues either...

[92merc]

Well, I complain on the forum and poof!  It's magically is working again!

[ValentineWeather]

This may be old news, saw this today after only zone forecast was showing even on NWS site.
https://forecast-v3.weather.gov/documentation?redirect=legacy

[tshattuck]

Ken:
I am running the new advforecast2 v.5.05 php script and have an issue. The Tonight Forecast is "Mostly Clear" but the icon displayed is the Cold.png image. This is the second night in a row this has occurred - same forecast.
Is there an image missing or did the NWS throw another curve ball?

Your assistance is appreciated
Thanks

[saratogaWX]

It's the NWS.. they specify the icon to use.  I think that when the forecast temperature is low ( like in the teens or lower), they choose to use 'cold' as the icon.  The script does not switch icons (except to local copies), so it's what they specify.

[tshattuck]

Ken:
Thanks for the clarification.

[daybreak]

Hello Everyone,

Well my forecast quit today, it's been working fine up to this point.  I was running version 5.04 and upgraded to 5.05 after it stopped working this morning but that didn't help.  Should I go back to Version 4?  Or is this a temporary thing?  My forecast is at the bottom of this page: http://www.daybreakimagery.com/weather/ vertically and also on this page the normal way.  http://www.daybreakimagery.com/weather/forecast.php 

Thank you,

Richard

[saratogaWX]

The issue may be related to a cache file issue

!-- advforecast2.php (JSON) - V5.05 - 27-Feb-2018 on PHP 5.3.3-->
<!-- RAW NWS URL: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Alma&state=IL&site=LSX&textField1=38.7229&textField2=-88.9101&e=0&TextType=2 -->
<!-- zone=ILZ070 -->
<!-- corrected NWS API URL='https://api.weather.gov/points/38.7229,-88.9101/forecast' -->
<!-- curl fetching 'https://api.weather.gov/points/38.7229,-88.9101/forecast' -->
<!-- HTTP stats:  RC=301
      Times: dns=0.006 conn=0.008 pxfer=0.022 get=0.003 total=0.025 secs -->
<!-- headers returned:
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Server: nginx/1.10.2
Content-Type: application/problem+json
Location: /gridpoints/LSX/139,80/forecast
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Pragma: no-cache
X-Server-ID: vm-bldr-nids-apiapp35.ncep.noaa.gov
X-Correlation-ID: 715d440b-0cf7-44b0-9017-44274074f8de
X-Request-ID: 715d440b-0cf7-44b0-9017-44274074f8de
Content-Length: 349
Cache-Control: private, must-revalidate, max-age=600
Expires: Tue, 20 Mar 2018 14:49:11 GMT
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2018 14:39:11 GMT
Connection: keep-alive
Vary: Accept
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000 ; includeSubDomains ; preload
 -->
<!-- loaded point-forecast https://api.weather.gov/points/38.7229,-88.9101/forecast - 961 bytes -->
<!-- meta info re: point='38.7229,-88.9101' zone='ILZ070' metacache= './forecast-ILZ070-0-json-meta.txt' -->
<!-- metaZoneURL='https://api.weather.gov/zones/forecast/ILZ070' -->
<!-- Meta cache file not found .. reloading data from NWS site -->
<!-- getting metadata for point from https://api.weather.gov/points/38.7229,-88.9101 -->
<!-- curl fetching 'https://api.weather.gov/points/38.7229,-88.9101' -->
<!-- HTTP stats:  RC=200
      Times: dns=0.000 conn=0.001 pxfer=0.016 get=0.003 total=0.019 secs -->
<!-- distance=0 from Alma -->
<!-- getting metadata for forecast zone from https://api.weather.gov/zones/forecast/ILZ070 -->
<!-- curl fetching 'https://api.weather.gov/zones/forecast/ILZ070' -->
<!-- HTTP stats:  RC=200
      Times: dns=0.000 conn=0.001 pxfer=0.015 get=0.003 total=0.018 secs -->
<!-- getting metadata for forecast office from https://api.weather.gov/offices/LSX -->
<!-- curl fetching 'https://api.weather.gov/offices/LSX' -->
<!-- HTTP stats:  RC=200
      Times: dns=0.000 conn=0.001 pxfer=0.015 get=0.005 total=0.019 secs -->
<!-- unable to write meta cache file ./forecast-ILZ070-0-json-meta.txt -->

You may want to create a ./cache/ directory, allow writing to that directory, and change the script to use ./cache/ instead of ./ to use that directory.  If there are issues writing the cache files, the forecast may not appear even if the fetching was successful.

[daybreak]

Thanks Ken!

I'm php code illiterate but I'll try to figure this out.  I'm not sure I totally understand but I'll give it my best shot!

Thanks,

Richard

[saratogaWX]

The line in advforecast2.php to change is

Code: [Select]

$cacheFileDir = './'; // default cache file directory
.. change it to

Code: [Select]

$cacheFileDir = './cache/'; // default cache file directory
after you create a ./cache/ directory on your website.

[daybreak]

Hi Ken,

I created the cache directory and changed the line of code but still nothing.  Unless I'm doing something wrong, which is very possible.

Richard

[saratogaWX]

You created the cache directory below the weather directory?  (that is weather/cache/ from the document root of your website)
Make sure the cache directory has permissions of 766 so files can be written there.

[dasman]

Something is up with mine today. Notice all of the low temps on the attatched. [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[saratogaWX]

Ahhh... you have the API occasional issue where extreme range numbers get populated .. before you start a fusion plant with those numbers, just call your local NWS office and say the forecast-v3.weather.gov current gridpoint forecast is wonky for your area. 

[daybreak]

I created the directory in the correct place and still not working.   

[saratogaWX]

Hmmm... you are running a really old PHP 5.3.3 on your site.  Is it possible to upgrade to PHP 5.5 5.6 or 7.1?  The old curl on 5.3.3 had a few https foibles and maybe you're having the issue there.  I tried your URL+zone in the current JSON script (which you are running that version) and it worked fine.  Your site is also uses ngnix for web services and not apache, but I don't think that would make a difference (but the old PHP might).

Contact the tech support for your hoster and ask them what permissions to use on the weather/cache/ directory in order to allow a PHP script to write a file there, and ask about upgrading the PHP version.  Since you're not running a Saratoga template site, I don't have access to my customary diagnostic tool, so I can only use the HTML comments in the view-source of the script running to see what issues there are .. the 'unable to write' the cache file(s) is the current big issue.

[saratogaWX]

I ran advforecast2.php?force=2 on your site.. and the zone forecast was displayed (and the cache files are saved).  The Point forecast is still not working, but there is progress

[daybreak]

Ok Ken thank you so much for your help.  I will contact them today and see about upgrading.

Richard

[daybreak]

Hi Ken,

I thought I should give you an update.  My web guy had been on a camping trip and returned this weekend and updated my site to PHP 7.  That did the trick, so thank you very much for all your help and suggestions.

Richard