Topic: Nominations for WXforum.net featured website, Spring 2011 now open

[saratogaWX]

Back by popular demand, It's time to start the search for the WXForum.net Featured Weather Website for Spring, 2011, so please post your nominations (with a short description about your nominee) in this thread.

Gary's guidance

Please list your nominations in this thread - it certainly can't hurt for you to describe why you think your nomination is deserving of this honor.

Don't forget that it is perfectly OK to nominate someone who has been nominated in the past but was not selected! We've had some very deserving nominees, and close runoffs!

Some criteria to consider when making nominations:


The visual attractiveness of the site
Ease of navigation
Quality and quantity of useful or interesting information
Educational value
Distinctiveness


While not a hard and fast rule, sites that only use the unmodified default web page template that comes with the software, while absolutely useful and functional, may not cross into that next level to warrant featuring in this manner. Please try to address these areas while nominating a site.

We'll run the nominations through Thursday, August 4, 2011, then start a new thread for polling on Friday, August 5, 2011. The polling will run through Thursday, August 19, 2011.

Just for reference, here were the previous honorees:
Spring, 2010 - Featured Weather Website is www.eldoradocountyweather.com
Spring, 2009 - Featured Weather Website is www.weather.ricksturf.com
Winter, 2008 - Featured Weather Website is stillweather.com
Fall, 2008 - Featured Weather Website is espwxctr.com
Summer, 2008 - Featured Weather Website is ThorntonWeather.com
Spring, 2008 - Featured Weather website is RoanokeValleyWeather.com
Winter, 2007 - Featured Weather website is DeltaWeatherCam.com
Fall, 2007 - Featured Weather Website is tobaccovilleweather.com
Summer, 2007 - Featured Weather Website is neondesert.com
Spring, 2007 - Featured Weather Website is desertweather.com
Winter, 2006 - Featured Weather Website carterlake.org
Fall, 2006 - Featured website Saratoga-weather.org
May, 2006 - featured website beamsvillewx.ca
April, 2006 - featured website capeweather.com
January, 2006 - featured website weather.anolecomputer.com
December, 2005 - Featured website tawasbayweather.com
November, 2005 - Featured website oldlineweather.com
October, 2005 - Featured website weatherbus.com
September, 2005 - featured website - Loganvillageweather.com
August, 2005 - Featured website Lighthouseweather.com

Details on each of the above sites are available on the Featured Weather Website forum.


Let the nominations begin!

[WeatherBeacon]

There are many good sites developed and maintained by our members!

I nominate "DaculaWeather.com" by Steve:

    http://www.daculaweather.com/

(Before anyone draws any incorrect conclusions, I had personally decided earlier that I would nominate Steve's site in the next "Featured Website" round.)

First, I am impressed with how "clean" and visually appealing the site is.

It uses the VWS/Ajax and WD/Ajax script and other php and css scripts, but Steve has added many other outstanding features and pages to his site to make it, I think, stand out above most others. Such features include but are not limited to:

• numerous NOAA forecast maps smoothly embedded and blended into his pages (several of which are animated),
• numerous current conditions, alerts, HPC, and NWS maps smoothly embedded and blended into his pages,
• a floating top menu bar,
• Google maps with radar overlays for all CONUS regions,
• animated GRLevel3 radar for Atlanta GA, Memphis TN, Paducah KY, Huntsville AL, and Greer SC,
• visible and water vapor satellite imagery for all CONUS regions,
• SPC maps for convective watches, current storm reports, convective outlook, meso-analysis, etc.,
• tropical outlook from various sources,
• current and past conditions maps for temperature, dew point, pressure, etc. that are easily changed with a click,
• numerous model maps (GFS, NAM, etc.), many of which are animated, by NOAA and other sources,
• sea temperature data, animated Gulf buoy data,
• air quality index, pollen count, gas prices, earthquake info,
• great graphs, etc.
• links to external sites for a wide variety of information, including fire, iceberg, tropical cyclines, volcano, and dust storms,

The features are too numerous and varied to enumerate here, so please check out his site and see for yourselves!

The site has a consistent and attractive look throughout and all the pages and features blend in nicely with the site's theme.

Check it out!

EDIT:  I suspect that local and regional weather reporting services have difficulty competing against Steve's site.

EDIT 2:  Fixed a minor typo. No changes to the content.

[DaculaWeather]

Wow, thank you VERY much Kevin! I appreciate the nomination!!! 

[CNYWeather]

+1

Didnt feel like typing all the same stuff 

Great looking site Steve!

[DaculaWeather]

  Thanks guys!

[diego45]

Is it allowed for anyone to nominate his own website? 

[saratogaWX]

Folks, you don't need to second (third, fourth, etc.) a nomination .. one is sufficient to be included in the polling

Yes, you can nominate your own site if you like.  It should fit the guidelines shown in the first posting in this thread.

Best regards,
Ken

[Andy Thompson]

What do I have to do to get in there?

[saratogaWX]

Yes, you can nominate your own site if you like.  It should fit the guidelines shown in the first posting in this thread.

[Andy Thompson]

Yes, but where do I go to nominate myself?

[mackbig]

Hit the reply button and say
"I nominate www.mysite.com for Spring 2011 wxforum featured website, for the following reasons........"

Yes, but where do I go to nominate myself?

[DanS]

Hey Andrew, why when I click on your example link do I get a web hosting site? 

[mackbig]

You're lucky I didnt rickroll you.

Hey Andrew, why when I click on your example link do I get a web hosting site? 

[DanS]

heh heh, I was thinking it was risky right after I clicked the mouse. But hey, if you can't trust your forum buddies who can you trust?

[ALITTLEweird1]

What the heck.. Ive always voted for people, so I'm going to throw my site into the mix for a nomination.

www.snoqualmieweather.com

[Dr Obbins]

I'll throw my hat in the ring also and nominate my site also! http://www.cavecountryweather.com/index.php
While it is the carterlake template, there are many customizations and unique features that set it apart form other sites.

• The cloud height script has been modified to make up the banner. Now the banner reflects the time of day and current conditions. The background also reflects the local countryside.
  
• The dashboard has been modified to include graphs and other info, like swimming pool temp.
• The menu is arranged by category making it easy to find the information you are looking for.
• There are 7 forecast pages - one for each county in the Cave Country area. While the forecasts do not generally vary that much, there is differences, so everyone gets their local forecast.
• Educational features include the "Fun Facts", "Today in Weather History" and a page dedicated to explaining the Weather Display Live screen http://www.cavecountryweather.com/wx12.php
• For weather info at a glance, there is the familiar look of the Current Conditions page.
• The displayed information automatically fills the visitor's monitor with out leaving space on each side.
• Smart phone pages
• Customized CSS
• Two local radio stations use the site data while broadcasting and the webcam is featured on the local TV news to show area weather conditions.

 Thanks to everyone who shared their skills, time and freely distributed the scripts. I am not a programmer, so I could not write the scripts, but I have modified, or built on to them to create a distinctive site. I would be honored to be considered for the WXForum.net Featured Weather Website.

Dave

[neondesert]

I would like to nominate http://www.cnyweather.com

Tony has chosen a standard template but has provided numerous features that
make his site an excellent candidate.

One feature in particular, Local Weather Alerts http://www.cnyweather.com/wxalertslocal.php, allow the user to view weather alerts across the country by
simply scrolling through a drop down list and clicking on a map for the specific location!  Very cool! 

Rather than bullet list the other outstanding aspects of his site, I encourage you to check it out for yourself and...don't forget to Vote!!! 

   

[m77]

I would like to nominate our school's weather website.

www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupHomepage.asp?GroupID=910590

it has community links - the forecast and live data are used by the locals and also feature on the frontpages of the local council and environmental clubs website.

I use weather display and wxsim, but more than that I use it as a learning and teaching resource.

I run a weather club after school and we regularly use the data and resources that it hosts. I have just got a pupil to record audio of the forecast and I plan to start filming our own forecasts weekly with the pupils.

have a look and judge for yourselves.

[saratogaWX]

To sum up.. so far, the following sites have been nominated (sorted by city name):

Barren County, Kentucky, USA - http://www.cavecountryweather.com/index.php
Dacula, Georga, USA          - http://www.daculaweather.com/
Madelia, Minnesota, USA      - http://www.madeliasliveweather.com/
Maiden Erlegh School, Reading, United Kingdom - http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupHomepage.asp?GroupID=910590
Snoqualmie, Washington, USA  - http://www.snoqualmieweather.com/
Westmoreland, New York, USA  - http://www.cnyweather.com/

Nominations will close Thursday, August 4, 2011.

Best regards,
Ken

[Arthurhh]

I nominate my site http://tokoroaweatherlive.net after all we have to have a non USA site or two.

My site is packed with all sorts of stuff but for my several thousands of visitors a month (counting repeats  ) it has a consise and complete home page and if they want more there are many sub pages. My main page is a modified Saratoga Dashboard script.

Of the many things featured on my site are all the usuals plus a local stations QC graph and meso map. http://tokoroaweatherlive.net/wxcomparision.php Which while the stations are all quite close allows us to keep a check on the quality of our stations.

One of the more common PWS site user requests I get is for my code customizing my graphs http://tokoroaweatherlive.net/wxgraphs.php

One disadvantage a site in NZ has is the lack of usable public data like your radars, US Met Service, NOA etc. To this end 4 of us operate in a joint manner and share our data. I have also worked out a number of ways of collecting data which is not generally otherwise available.

I host this site myself since it has a limited regional appeal and doesnt require a huge bandwidth. (    Until all you guys hit it when I post this) my traffic numbers can be seen here http://tokoroaweatherlive.net/piwik/index.php?module=CoreHome&action=index&idSite=3&period=week&date=today#module=Dashboard&action=embeddedIndex&idSite=3&period=week&date=today although hitting this page will slow things down a lot which is why it is not menued on the site.

[mayo9999]

I would like to nominate Michael Holden, Relay Weather http://www.relayweather.com  Michael uses Carterlake and Saratora Weather scripts; however he has added his own twist to them.  Relay Weather is a "clean" looking, and very functional Weather site. 

Michael has provided many PHP scripts to all of us like; CWOP Statistics Viewer, Air Quality, Temperature & Rain Trending, Weather "On This Day" History, and World Weather 24 Hour Extreme.  His scripts can be seen and downloaded at http://www.relayweather.com/downloads.php. 

Michael is in the development stage of a Tropical Script that I begged him to provide to me, as I live in FL and have tons of annual Tropical weather.  His use of Highslide JS is the first I've seen in our forums and the way he uses it enhances his site even more.  Please vote for Michael and Relay Weather as the featured Spring 2011 website.

[mth]

I would like to nominate Michael Holden, Relay Weather http://www.relayweather.com  Michael uses Carterlake and Saratora Weather scripts; however he has added his own twist to them.  Relay Weather is a "clean" looking, and very functional Weather site. 

Michael has provided many PHP scripts to all of us like; CWOP Statistics Viewer, Air Quality, Temperature & Rain Trending, Weather "On This Day" History, and World Weather 24 Hour Extreme.  His scripts can be seen and downloaded at http://www.relayweather.com/downloads.php. 

Michael is in the development stage of a Tropical Script that I begged him to provide to me, as I live in FL and have tons of annual Tropical weather.  His use of Highslide JS is the first I've seen in our forums and the way he uses it enhances his site even more.  Please vote for Michael and Relay Weather as the featured Spring 2011 website.

Wow, Mayo!  Thank you for the kind comments and nomination!