Dayfile.txt

Cumulus maintains a daily file of the highs and lows of each day, as well as a few other nuggets of information. The data contained in the file are used to build the graphs.

Editing in Cumulus

The last command in Edit menu is dayfile.txt. This is a text editor, and works best when at full screen.

You can use this editor to correct individual values by overtyping.

The Create missing button will insert missing rows (complete days) by reading and calculating from Monthly_log_files (a technique that is useful for importing, and processing, pre-Cumulus observations, and that procedure is explained in the Wiki topic in greater detail than is possible in the Help). Click the Help button for detailed instructions. Cumulus Help is comprehensive and explains how a list of inserted records is produced.

If just some fields are missing from a particular row (meteorological day) on day file, then there is a workaround as at all current versions (up to 1.9.4) you can only import from the Monthly_log_files if the whole date (row) is missing in dayfile.txt.

Note for version 1.9.3 only: Create missing might in some cases be affected by a bug in 1.9.3 that can cause incorrect date order for records (dayfile.txt uses dd/mm/yy or dd-mm-yy and all records should be in ascending chronological order), any bugs are believed fixed in version 1.9.4.

Manipulation outside Cumulus

The file is called dayfile.txt which can be viewed in a text editor or imported into various database systems or spreadsheets to manipulate as you wish. Just remember that Cumulus updates it as part of the rollover process, so do not work on it when Cumulus has just been restarted or around the midnight/9am/10am local rollover time.

Tip: Take a copy of the file before you work on it outside Cumulus (perhaps call the copy 'dayfile.csv' so Windows can recognise its structure).

Rules: Each line must contain the fields in correct sequence (since new versions/builds can add to number of fields, Cumulus will accept lines of various lengths without the more recent fields at the end). [Additions for the last few builds only are indicated below, you can explore details of earlier versions via the official product page].

Important:

• The (meteorological) date format uses two digits for the year. Edit this file using an editor that treats all fields as text (a text editor or a spreadsheet program that can be instructed not to recognise special field types). - Do not edit this file using Excel or any similar tool that recognizes dates, as it is likely to change the dates to have four figure years, and then Cumulus will no longer be able to use the file.
• Times are in format hh:mm, and most value fields are in format x.y using your system decimal notation.
• Also, make sure that any editing does not create any blank lines in the file, all must start with date and include some of the parameters listed in correct sequence.
• Nulls ',,' are not allowed in the line, so if you do not know the value for a particular field within the line, then type in an extreme with opposite value (e.g. -999.9 for a signed decimal maximum, and 999.9 for a decimal minimum - assuming your system decimal format is using full stops).

Format of the file

• 00: Date in the form dd/mm/yy (or sometimes dd-mm-yy, the separator can vary and is unimportant)
• 01: Highest wind gust
• 02: Bearing of highest wind gust (integer)
• 03: Time of highest wind gust
• 04: Minimum temperature
• 05: Time of minimum temperature
• 06: Maximum temperature
• 07: Time of maximum temperature
• 08: Minimum sea level pressure
• 09: Time of minimum pressure
• 10: Maximum sea level pressure
• 11: Time of maximum pressure
• 12: Maximum rainfall rate
• 13: Time of maximum rainfall rate
• 14: Total rainfall for the day
• 15: Average temperature for the day
• 16: Total wind run
• 17: Highest Average Wind Speed
• 18: Time of Highest Avg. Wind speed
• 19: Lowest humidity
• 20: Time of lowest humidity
• 21: Highest humidity
• 22: Time of highest humidity
• 23: Total evapotranspiration
• 24: Total hours of sunshine
• 25: High Heat index
• 26: Time of high heat index
• 27: High Apparent temperature
• 28: Time of high apparent temperature
• 29: Low apparent temperature
• 30: Time of low apparent temperature
• 31: High hourly rain
• 32: Time of high hourly rain
• 33: Low wind chill
• 34: Time of low wind chill
• 35: High dew point
• 36: Time of high dew point
• 37: Low dew point
• 38: Time of low dew point

The next 3 entries were added in version 1.9.2 Build 1004

• 39: Today's dominant/average wind direction (integer)
• 40: Heating degree days
• 41: Cooling degree days

Added in version 1.9.3 build 1036

• 42: High solar radiation
• 43: Time of high solar radiation
• 44: High UV Index
• 45: Time of high UV Index

Example of the file

An extract of a few lines of the dayfile.txt

01/08/11,19.3,61,10:22,12.5,06:58,23.8,14:49,1014.26,20:46,1018.83,09:28,0.0,00:00,0.0,17.8,21.6,4.6,10:44,36,14:14,86,01:56,3.56,8.9,23.8,14:49,23.1,14:50,12.3,06:59,0.0,00:00,12.5,06:58,11.3,00:16,6.9,14:34,354,2.0,1.5

02/08/11,16.1,20,16:55,14.7,06:45,24.2,13:54,1013.79,19:13,1015.65,11:14,0.0,00:00,0.0,18.9,13.7,8.0,15:55,42,20:42,85,06:50,2.79,4.9,24.2,13:54,24.3,13:55,15.1,06:40,0.0,00:00,14.7,06:45,14.8,11:59,7.0,21:09,57,1.0,1.7

03/08/11,14.5,36,17:23,14.9,05:50,24.6,14:46,1012.70,18:44,1015.99,08:34,0.0,00:00,0.0,19.4,17.2,4.8,16:04,50,14:38,79,07:04,3.05,5.8,24.6,14:46,25.4,14:47,15.0,05:50,0.0,00:00,14.9,05:50,14.2,20:01,8.9,00:16,32,0.8,1.9

04/08/11,17.7,16,15:43,14.1,06:20,25.3,15:06,1013.08,18:42,1015.31,08:28,0.0,00:00,0.0,20.2,19.4,8.1,14:12,52,18:20,92,06:55,3.30,9.1,25.3,15:06,26.8,14:55,14.9,06:20,0.0,00:00,14.1,06:20,15.8,14:55,12.5,06:25,36,1.0,2.9

05/08/11,16.1,32,12:52,14.2,06:12,22.2,14:07,1013.89,00:01,1016.36,09:43,0.0,00:00,0.0,18.6,21.6,5.2,13:00,62,15:57,87,06:11,3.30,8.4,22.2,14:07,23.5,14:10,14.8,07:19,0.0,00:00,14.2,06:12,15.4,10:33,12.0,06:03,34,0.9,1.3

06/08/11,16.1,309,11:15,14.3,05:29,22.4,17:12,1014.46,20:02,1016.97,10:38,0.0,00:00,0.0,18.4,19.2,5.5,16:21,55,13:33,92,05:20,2.79,7.9,22.4,17:12,23.3,18:17,15.1,06:09,0.0,00:00,14.3,05:29,14.2,18:12,10.9,10:38,32,1.1,1.3

07/08/11,17.7,342,13:24,12.9,05:47,24.1,14:53,1013.92,19:49,1016.43,09:36,0.0,00:00,0.0,18.4,19.1,6.3,14:06,48,12:45,89,05:36,3.30,9.0,24.1,14:53,24.6,15:48,13.3,05:47,0.0,00:00,12.9,05:47,14.6,15:52,10.7,11:33,11,1.6,1.7