Using Windows Version to Read NDFD NetCDF

[Ken Waters]

All,

I'm just getting started trying to use GrADS to read netCDF files (the
NWS National Digital Forecast Database) on a Windows XP box.  The data
set has been converted from GRIB2 to CF-compliant netCDF files using the
NWS MDL "degrib.exe" utililty
(http://www.nws.noaa.gov/mdl/NDFD_GRIB2Decoder/download.php).

I've successfully installed the latest Windows build that's available,
Ver. 1.8sl11, native windows version.  Someone told me that I can use
1.9b4 to read these data, however there are no Windows binaries
available for that version on the GrADS website.  Is the 1.8sl11 version
able to read netCDF?

I'm having mixed results finding help in the documentation.  For
example, I found a link labeled "Using GrADS on a PC" (link:
http://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/software/grads/win32/latest/) and it was a
dead link.

Has anyone had any success viewing netCDF files using the Windows
version?  I did as someone suggested and started with the WRF example
(http://grads.iges.org/grads/gadoc/wrfvars.ctl) for a control file
that's found in the documentation.  I did an "ncdump -h" of the netCDF
file ("sky.txt", attached) to get the required header information to
build the control file and then replaced the information in the WRF
example to match my data set as best as I could.  However, I seem to not
be able to get to step one as I get the following error upon reading the
control file ("sky.ctl", attached):

        ga-> open c:\test\sky.ctl
        Scanning description file:  c:\test\sky.ctl
        Open Error:  Data file type invalid
          --> The invalid description file record is:
          --> dtype netcdf

          The data file was not opened.
        ga->

The "dtype netcdf" line is the exact same line that is in the WRF
example control file online.  Does this have something to do with the
CR/LF problem that someone just posted about?  If so, how do I fix it?

As you can tell, I'm really pretty lost and not sure if I can even do
what I want to do with this version.

Thanks much for any help.

Ken


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