This script is for a Saratoga template and displays several different NWS Meteorological Development Lab GMOS 6hr. forecasts at 3 hr. intervals for 192 hrs. There are only a couple of options to set. First, there is an option to use 'onclick' rather than the default 'onmouseover' display of the charts. Second, the width of the maps is settable up to the maximum default chart width of 800px. You can also set a minimum width to display the charts, which is set at 656px currently. If you eliminate the inset border style you will need to set this width at 660px.
The code has been tested for several months and has also successfully navigated our recent DST=>ST transition, but bugs might persist. I've removed my primitive debugging code and tried to comment the code to make it more understandable.
If you set this script to widescreen in a Saratoga template page it will max the charts out at 800px and eliminate the 'Larger Map' hyperlinks. It uses an undocumented browser feature, present in all modern browsers, to center the output on a widescreen template.
The script uses jQuery's load() to partially load the page when a new chart type is selected from the dropdown list. This avoids reloading the entire Saratoga template when the chart type is changed.
Bear in mind that this page uses a set of EXPERIMENTAL MDL charts. They might just disappear or they might change considerably if and when they are massaged into the NWS-NOAA family of regularly available information. Meanwhile, enjoy!
Edit 2103 Nov 20: Forgot to include a
link to the page on my site. Also, the map selections are 'Weather', 'Precipitation', Thunder', 'Severe', 'Precip. Intensity', 'Frozen Precip', and 'Freezing Temp.'.
Edit 2013 Nov 23: The css style to center the script's output on wide pages was inadvertently omitted. The latest zip now includes it.
Edit 2014 Feb 5: The script wasn't properly adapting to the change between Standard Time and Daylight Savings Time, so it wasn't displaying the correct day-hour for a little over one hour twice a day. The wxmdlgmos-2hk-192hfc-2.zip corrects this problem.
Edit 2014 Mar 28: The MDL cron job behind the generation of these maps has been erratic for the past few weeks, and the slide-shows are no longer available. For example, at the moment the last run for these maps was yesterday. In view of this, I've revised the script to eliminate the slide-show link and to emphasize the caution that must be used when viewing these charts. The AM <=> PM switch-overs contained flawed logic and weren't working. I think this problem has been fixed in the version 3 zip. No prior versions are now available.
Edit 2015 June 10: The MDL is now creating Alaska maps for all parameters except 'Liquid Potential' exactly like for the lower 48 states. The MDL also publishes a similar series of maps comparing their Gridded MOS Forecast Maps with the National Digital Guidance Database Maps. They drop to every six hour rather than every three hour forecasts after 3 days, but they're still interesting. The version with today's date displays all of these experimental forecast maps.