GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 335135
Weather Report Applet Gets Wrong Forecast for Loveland
Last modified: 2010-01-24 01:06:47 UTC
Please describe the problem: From https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=147738 I live and work in Loveland, Colorado. I set up the Gnome Weather report applet to retrieve weather data using the "North America -> United States -> Colorado -> Loveland" location from the preferences menu. However I noticed that the forecasts seemed to be off by quite a bit compared to other weather forecasts. I took a look at /opt/gnome/share/gnome-applets/gweather/Locations.xml to see what code and zone the applet is using. For getting current conditions, it uses code KFNL, which is the Fort Collins/Loveland municipal airport. That's fine. However for retrieving the forecast, it uses zone COZ035. Zone COZ035 if Larimer (note: Loveland and Fort Collins are in Larimer County) and Jackson counties between 6000 and 9000 feet of elevation. You can verify this at the following URL: http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iwszone3?Sites=COZ035 Fort Collins, the airport, and most or all of Loveland are below 6000 feet in elevation. Therefore the correct zone for this location is COZ038: http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iwszone3?Sites=COZ038 The difference in forecasts between these two zones is often fairly dramatic--the higher elevations receive precipitation much more often, particularly in wintertime (the higher elevations get a lot more snow and wind than the lower elevations). These two cities sit right at the edge of where the Rocky Mountains meet the plains, so the difference in elevation can be a major difference in climate. You can validate the elevations of Loveland, Fort Collins, and the airport at the following URL's: City of Fort Collins facts website (run by the city government of Fort Collins): http://www.ci.fort-collins.co.us/fcfacts.php?ID=2 City of Loveland demographics website (run by the city government of Loveland): http://www.ci.loveland.co.us/econdev/loveland_profile.htm Ft. Collins/Loveland Municipal Airport info (AirNav): http://www.airnav.com/airport/KFNL Suggested diff for /opt/gnome/share/gnome-applets/gweather/Locations.xml: 43536c43536 < <zone>COZ038</zone> --- > <zone>COZ035</zone> Steps to reproduce: Actual results: Expected results: Does this happen every time? Other information:
Requires fixing in Locations.xml.in.
Done.