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Wx has a transparent "tinted-glass" main window (both color and transparency can be adjusted in preferences). The main window contains dynamic scrolling sidebars that switch tracked locations and maps in and out of the main view. Drop down sheets provide access to settings and preferences. The main window is shown below with features illustrated. Wx also has an auxiliary radar console for viewing live radar animations, an activity panel, and a small floating "MiniWx" remote panel.
Data obtained from the NWS XML current conditions feed are organized and displayed in a weather station interface, with graphical icons representing the weather observation, color coded temperatures (ambient temperature and apparent temperature are displayed), a wind-rose, and the latest radar image. Wx displays current watches, warnings, and advisories, add-ons, and three forecasts -- a graphical "point" forecast (pinpointed by latitude and longitude), a 168 hour "pro" forecast with detailed weather from the latest NWS model run (pinpointed by latitude and longitude), and a text "zone" forecast (specified by city or county zone).
Clicking on the radar image will activate the multi-threaded radar console (which can also be activated separately from the "Window" menu). Wx has four radar console modes (listed here in order of complexity) -- a static image showing the latest radar data, a simple looping animation of the last 8 radar images, a controllable Java Animation Applet with the last 8 images, and a highly customizable NWS "RIDGE" (Radar Integrated Display with Geospatial Elements) Java applet with the last 10 images. A screen shot of the Wx RIDGE mode is shown below:
The RIDGE mode requires at least 710 pixels of vertical space on the computer screen. In addition, RIDGE is fairly CPU intensive (fast G4, G5, or Intel CPU recommended) as it loads over 80 layers to make a composite animation. The other Wx radar modes are simpler, less CPU intensive, and can accomodate smaller screens. Wx allows you to choose the radar mode that makes the most sense for your needs, whether you want power or convenience, or both!
All Wx radar modes support "panning" to adjacent radar sites and offer seven different types of radar: short range base reflectivity, short range composite reflectivity, short range base velocity, short range storm relative velocity, long range base reflectivity, 1 hour rainfall, and storm total rainfall. For more information on these radar types, see this NWS web page. The Wx radar panning mode is augmented by drop down sheets with a clickable national radar site map and a clickable national radar mosaic (covering the continental US, Alaska, and Hawaii) as shown below:
The radar console offers an "Auto-update" option which will reload the current radar display every 5 minutes. This is canceled if the radar console window is closed.
Wx will download up to 20 weather maps or images of your choice. Users can take advantage of this feature to graphically monitor weather locally or nationally. An example showing a national satellite map (GOES water vapor) is given below:
Wx summarizes weather conditions using the app's dock icon and dock menu (activated by click+hold, ctrl-click, or right-mouse-click on the Wx dock icon). The user can choose various modes for displaying info in the dock, including a "slideshow" mode.
Weather information can also be summarized in the floating "MiniWx" panel:
Clicking on the MiniWx panel will toggle the display among active locations. MiniWx can be made to float above all other windows on the screen, and offers a "Pop" mode where it briefly shows up on the screen after each Wx reload and then fades back out after 10 seconds of idle time. If you click on MiniWx while it pops on screen, the fade out will be delayed until your mouse pointer moves out of MiniWx.
Wx includes an optional Quartz/RSS screensaver, which uses OpenGL to animate and render current weather conditions on top of a floating clouds background:
Wx provides weather data to the screensaver via an RSS feed, but the screensaver is configured in System Preferences and run by Mac OS X.
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