Current UVindex value display for stations without UV hardware

[meteocaldas]

Both Wu .json and Darksky .Json used in MT have hourly forecasts for the UVindex value.
I have been testing both UVi forecasts, for some time now, comparing these forecasted values with the realtime values of some weather stations in my neighborhood..

WU is not very precise, because it gives the value for the next hour, lets say, at 10am it displays the value forecasted for 11am, (usually higher than realtime), and in the afternoon it is the opposite as value at 3pm will show 4pm value, (usually lower). These errors are not very important because they tend to be only +/- 1, maximum +/-2. The problem with WU, is always the same: it goes offline very often and sometimes, for long periods of time.

DarkSky however, is fantastic. (don't take this as an advertisement! )
During the testing weeks it never failed, and most of all, it always gave very accurate values of UVIndex.

Since my station has no UV and no Solar hardware (like the majority of MT users), I can't denny my frustration for not having that info in my site, but...
as MT already uses DarkSky .json (it is stored in /pages/forecast/cache/current.txt), I played around with it for sometime and I finally managed to succed in adding the current UVI forecasted value to the uvForecastBlock.
It looks like this:

The Block is a little customized, (don't take that into account) but the idea worked and I feel very happy with this solution, specially because it is very accurate.
I am showing this, as it may be of the interest to many other users without UV hardware, and if that is the case, I am sure Jachym will not take long to include this feature as an option in the next version of uvForecastBlock... and I will be the first to download the update

[Jachym]

Hi,
Im a bit confused as to what exactly you did Are we talking about forecast or current conditions?

[meteocaldas]

Hi Jachym, please excuse me! I have reread my explanation and you are right, it is not clear at all
To avoid further confusion, I have already edited the subject of the post.
In fact, where I wrote "hourly value" I should have written "current hour value" because the UVindex value is parsed from the "currently" part of current.txt

"currently":{"time":1512130922,"summary":"Clean","icon":"clearday","precipIntensity":0,"precipProbability":0,"temperature":13.47,"apparentTemperature":13.47,"dewPoint":6.03,"humidity":0.61,"pressure":1024.85,"windSpeed":4.67,"windGust":6.57,"windBearing":352,"cloudCover":0,"uvIndex":2,"ozone":280}

The Darksky forecasted UVindex current values are really very accurate (tested for several weeks at my location), and it would be fantastic if you could add them as an option to be displayed in a future version of uvForecastBlock
Thanks in advance.

[Jachym]

Hi,
ok so if I understand this correctly, you mean using value of UV index from DarkSky as if you had your own UV sensor and showing it in current conditions?

[meteocaldas]

Hi,
ok so if I understand this correctly, you mean using value of UV index from DarkSky as if you had your own UV sensor and showing it in current conditions?

Yessssssss please

[Jachym]

OK, well this is a major thing because we are basically talking about using external data as our data. This is not used anywhere else in the template and I am a bit undecided about whether I like this idea or not. On one hand it is nice to have a UV sensor, on the other hand, everyone assumes your data is your data - what you measured. I have seen Darksky being very inaccurate in their forecasts, especially for some locations so this could be misleading.

I guess I will have to see what others think about this. If majority of people like this idea it could be implemented in some blocks, if not, then not

[meteocaldas]

That is what I call a very wise decision!
Am I the first one to vote? My vote=Yes

[Fraggboy]

There are blocks that retrieve information directly from your instrumentation, or an external source. The individual blocks stay 'true' to one or the other. The data is not mixed.

That would be misleading/confusing since we all know the current block retrieves the data locally. I have to disagree with this update. I think if you choose to display external data on your current block, that it should stay customized for your page (And others who might feel this would benefit their webpage).

It's very cut and dry as to which blocks receive data locally or externally (Properly marked on the bottom "Data from Darksky".) There's no clean way to decipher which data in the current block is external/local.

. . . Just my $0.02 worth.

[meteocaldas]

... I have to disagree with this update. I think if you choose to display external data on your current block, ... t's very cut and dry as to which blocks receive data locally or externally (Properly marked on the bottom "Data from Darksky".) There's no clean way to decipher which data in the current block is external/local.

Hi Fraggboy, I absolutely agree with you. I never had the idea of including the current UV forecast in the current block as it would lead to confusion. As you can see in my first post, the current UVindex value (forecasted) is included in the uvForecastBlock, marked on the bottom exactly as you said, so there is no doubt that it is just a forecast, not a station real reading.



When Jachym asked

Hi, ok so if I understand this correctly, you mean using value of UV index from DarkSky as if you had your own UV sensor and showing it in current conditions?

I answered Yes, without understanding that Jachym was referring to "current conditions" (block), I just read it as "current conditions" for the UVindex value, I didn´t notice he might be referring to "current conditions block".
You guys pease forgive me, but english is not my native language and it is very easy for me to fall into these tricky language misinterpretations
To make it perfectly clear:
My idea is to include UVindex current value (forecasted) in the UVForecast block (as the pic shows) and only there! If you check my site, my current conditions block doesn't even show the UV icon.
I am sure this would be an interesting addon for the stations without uv hardware, cause the viewers could have an idea of what the UVindex value (forecasted) is at that specific hour, along with the maximum UVindex value for that day (also forecasted).
Thanks guys, and once again my apologies for creating all this mess... but my intentions were good

[Fraggboy]

I'm on the same page as you. With you clarifying that for me, I agree on the change since that block is clearly marked as external data..

[Jachym]

OK, now I get it... I thought you mean the Current block. Yes, this change is possible.

[meteocaldas]

Thank you soooo much Jachym!
The update for the uvForecastBlock that you have just released, is exactly what I was looking for! PERFECT!

[meteoesine]

Hi,
is it possible to include the UV forecast also into the UV block (for those uses UV sensor data from the API file)?
cheers

[Jachym]

Hi,
I would rather there are no duplicates. If you want both then use both blocks, as soon as I start combining blocks into one people will start asking for merging hundreds of different combinations. Each block does something different and I would rather it stayed that way

[meteocaldas]

is it possible to include the UV forecast also into the UV block (for those uses UV sensor data from the API file)?

If you want to have both current UV value (API) and next days forecast, you can use the new version of the uvForecast block (v3.0). It does exactly what you want.