KTML WEATHER DOCUMENTATION
Site guide
How to read and operate the KTML Weather Observatory public site.
Source order
| SOURCE | USE |
|---|---|
| NWS | Official alerts and the authoritative point forecast. |
| On-site Wx array | Immediate conditions at the KTML site. |
| NOAA radar | Regional precipitation and storm movement. |
| AirNow | Preliminary reporting-area air-quality observations. |
| Windy | Interactive regional layers and model context. |
Current conditions
The Realistic Expectation report is generated on the server from reviewed temperature, apparent-temperature, dew-point, wind, gust, rain, pressure, UV, lightning, and NWS-deviation thresholds. Compact signal labels show the current thermal, moisture, wind, precipitation, and UV bands.
The optional Chime control plays a short local tone when a newer station timestamp arrives. Browsers require a visitor click before sound can begin, and the control resets to off when the page is reopened.
NWS deltas are calculated as on-site value − NWS hourly forecast. A negative number means the site is cooler or less windy than forecast; a positive number means warmer or windier.
Freshness
- Live: readings are arriving on schedule.
- Delayed: the most recent reading is late but still usable.
- Stale: the displayed value should not be treated as current.
- Retrying: the page is keeping the last reading while reconnecting.
Air quality and storms
The AirNow panel shows the highest current AQI and each available pollutant for the reporting area. AirNow observations are preliminary and may be revised. The freshness rail says Current through 90 minutes, Delayed from 90 minutes through three hours, and Stale after three hours so an old AQI is never presented as a fresh report.
Thunder probability and thunderstorm alerts come from NWS. Local strike counts and distance appear only when the on-site Ambient payload includes a compatible lightning detector; not detected describes sensor availability, not an all-clear.
Sun and Moon
The lunar disk uses NASA LROC surface imagery with locally calculated phase, illumination, altitude, bearing, rise, set, and transit data. The texture and interactive renderer wait until this part of the page approaches the viewport, so they do not hold up the live weather display.
The 24-hour track covers the current local calendar day in 30-minute steps. Move the slider to inspect another time; the disk and readouts follow the selected markers. Select Now to return to the closest current point.
Moonlight combines the selected illumination and altitude into a simple observing-context estimate. Clouds, haze, terrain, artificial light, and camera exposure are not included. Terminator Watch calls out broad lunar terrain favored by the selected phase.
Cameras
Sky Wide, North Sky, and South Sky normally update every 60 seconds. Sky Wide preserves its 8:3 west-to-east panorama. Select any image for the full-screen view.
Original camera frames are archived with UTC timestamps. Historical previews are generated from those originals.
Timelapse and archive
Separate rolling 24-hour videos for all three cameras are rebuilt every hour. The worker waits 75 seconds for the top-of-hour frame and targets release by minute xx:05; the homepage shows the next expected edition countdown.
A permanent daily video is generated only after the complete local calendar day closes. Until shortly after midnight, the current date links to the rolling viewer and reports the daily publication target instead of presenting an incomplete day as final.
The newest seven dates have thumbnail folders. Older dates remain available through year, month, and day folders. Each date combines permanent daily videos, average weather, hour buttons, a minute timeline, and nearest frame/observation retrieval. Missing periods say No Frame Available.
Players include the native timeline plus 0.5×, 1×, 2×, and 4× speed controls. Historical pages and generated media require an Anubis browser check; canonical original frames are not downloadable.
History
Select Trend in any instrument group, then choose a time range. The filtered scope and exact date window appear above the graph.
The amber line and colored points mark the selected timestamp. Choose Load protected sky frames to show the nearest Sky Wide, North Sky, and South Sky derivatives within five minutes. Anubis verification is required, and canonical originals remain private. Gaps remain empty instead of being connected across an outage.
Service checks
Liveness confirms that the web process is responding. API health also checks database connectivity and the freshness of the station and cameras.
Privacy and terms
The privacy policy explains ordinary request logs, essential security state, third-party embeds, retention, and contact choices. The Terms of Use cover weather disclaimers, acceptable use, generated media, and the API’s private single-user scope.