Template talk:Infobox Weather

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[edit] Examples

[edit] Code to produce the above box with editors notes on use

{{Infobox Weather <!-- This was created with weatherbase.com in mind as the source, but -->
|metric_first = <!--Entering Yes or True will swap unit order to metric first then Imperial -->
<!--Leave blank for Imperial-->
|single_line= <!--Entering Yes will place some units on the same line on compact the box vertically-->
|location = Example City  <!-- any source can be used.-->
|Jan_Hi_°F = x  
|Feb_Hi_°F = x  <!--ALL fields must be filled in.  Exception = built in {{cite web}} below. -->
|Mar_Hi_°F = x  
|Apr_Hi_°F = x  <!--If only Imperial/English units are available, you must convert to metric 
|May_Hi_°F = x       (either cm or mm) and enter where needed-->
|Jun_Hi_°F = x
|Jul_Hi_°F = x   <!--If only SI/metric units are available, you must also convert to Imperial
|Aug_Hi_°F =x         units and enter where needed.-->
|Sep_Hi_°F =x  
|Oct_Hi_°F =x <!-- www.weatherbase.com gives global weather info in both Imperial and metric.-->
|Nov_Hi_°F =x
|Dec_Hi_°F =x 
|Year_Hi_°F = x
|Jan_Hi_°C = x
|Feb_Hi_°C = x
|Mar_Hi_°C = x
|Apr_Hi_°C = x
|May_Hi_°C = x
|Jun_Hi_°C = x
|Jul_Hi_°C = x
|Aug_Hi_°C = x
|Sep_Hi_°C = x
|Oct_Hi_°C = x
|Nov_Hi_°C = x
|Dec_Hi_°C = x
|Year_Hi_°C = x
|Jan_Lo_°F = x
|Feb_Lo_°F = x
|Mar_Lo_°F = x 
|Apr_Lo_°F = x
|May_Lo_°F = x
|Jun_Lo_°F =x
|Jul_Lo_°F =x
|Aug_Lo_°F =x
|Sep_Lo_°F =x
|Oct_Lo_°F =x
|Nov_Lo_°F =x
|Dec_Lo_°F =x
|Year_Lo_°F =x
|Jan_Lo_°C = x
|Feb_Lo_°C = x
|Mar_Lo_°C = x
|Apr_Lo_°C = x
|May_Lo_°C = x
|Jun_Lo_°C =x
|Jul_Lo_°C =x
|Aug_Lo_°C =x
|Sep_Lo_°C =x
|Oct_Lo_°C =x
|Nov_Lo_°C =x
|Dec_Lo_°C =x
|Year_Lo_°C =x
<!--Optional REC temps; should be used very sparely in general articles-->
   |Jan_REC_Hi_°F =       |Feb_REC_Hi_°F =      |Mar_REC_Hi_°F =     |Apr_REC_Hi_°F = 
   |May_REC_Hi_°F =       |Jun_REC_Hi_°F =      |Jul_REC_Hi_°F =     |Aug_REC_Hi_°F =     
   |Sep_REC_Hi_°F =       |Oct_REC_Hi_°F =      |Nov_REC_Hi_°F =     |Dec_REC_Hi_°F =  
   |Year_REC_Hi_°F = 
      |Jan_REC_Hi_°C =      |Feb_REC_Hi_°C =       |Mar_REC_Hi_°C =      |Apr_REC_Hi_°C = 
      |May_REC_Hi_°C =     |Jun_REC_Hi_°C =      |Jul_REC_Hi_°C =       |Aug_REC_Hi_°C =
      |Sep_REC_Hi_°C =      |Oct_REC_Hi_°C =       |Nov_REC_Hi_°C =      |Dec_REC_Hi_°C = 
    |Year_REC_Hi_°C =      
    |Jan_REC_Lo_°F=          |Feb_REC_Lo_°F =       |Mar_REC_Lo_°F =     |Apr_REC_Lo_°F = 
     |May_REC_Lo_°F =      |Jun_REC_Lo_°F =      |Jul_REC_Lo_°F =       |Aug_REC_Lo_°F = 
     |Sep_REC_Lo_°F =      |Oct_REC_Lo_°F =       |Nov_REC_Lo_°F =      |Dec_REC_Lo_°F = 
    |Year_REC_Lo_°F = 
        |Jan_REC_Lo_°C =        |Feb_REC_Lo_°C =        |Mar_REC_Lo_°C =       |Apr_REC_Lo_°C = 
       |May_REC_Lo_°C =        |Jun_REC_Lo_°C =        |Jul_REC_Lo_°C =       |Aug_REC_Lo_°C = 
       |Sep_REC_Lo_°C =        |Oct_REC_Lo_°C =        |Nov_REC_Lo_°C =       |Dec_REC_Lo_°C = 
       |Year_REC_Lo_°C = 
|Jan_Precip_inch = x
|Feb_Precip_inch = x
|Mar_Precip_inch = x
|Apr_Precip_inch = x
|May_Precip_inch =x
|Jun_Precip_inch =x
|Jul_Precip_inch =x
|Aug_Precip_inch =x
|Sep_Precip_inch =x
|Oct_Precip_inch =x
|Nov_Precip_inch =x
|Dec_Precip_inch =x
|Year_Precip_inch =x
<!--This is in CENTImetres not MILLImetres.-->
<!--If the source uses mm be sure to enter the values in the mm fields.-->
<!--If the source is metric be sure to use the unit that the source reports -->
|Jan_Precip_cm = x     |Jan_Precip_mm =  
|Feb_Precip_cm = x     |Feb_Precip_mm = 
|Mar_Precip_cm = x     |Mar_Precip_mm = 
|Apr_Precip_cm = x     |Apr_Precip_mm = 
|May_Precip_cm = x     |May_Precip_mm = 
|Jun_Precip_cm = x     |Jun_Precip_mm = 
|Jul_Precip_cm = x     |Jul_Precip_mm = 
|Aug_Precip_cm = x     |Aug_Precip_mm = 
|Sep_Precip_cm = x     |Sep_Precip_mm = 
|Oct_Precip_cm = x     |Oct_Precip_mm = 
|Nov_Precip_cm = x     |Nov_Precip_mm = 
|Dec_Precip_cm = x     |Dec_Precip_mm = 
|Year_Precip_cm = x    |Year_Precip_mm = 
|source = Weatherbook <ref name= >{{cite web <!--BUILT in ref name and cite web.-->
| url =http://www.weatherbase.com| title = 
| accessdate = | accessmonthday = | accessyear = 
| author = | last = | first = 
| date = | year = | month = | publisher = | language = }}</ref>
|accessdate = Jan 2006 <!--accessdate that shows in weatherbox-->
<!--For a second source-->
|source2 = <ref name= >{{cite web
| url = | title = | accessmonthday = | accessyear =  
| publisher = | language = }}</ref>
|accessdate2 =
}}

[edit] Sister Template Infobox Weather2

After, trying many different ways to hide the 14th column, "Year", I just created the a sister template: {{Infobox Weather2}}. This sister template does not have the year column. Any changes to this template should also be applied to the sister template and vise-versa. —MJCdetroit 20:15, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

With Doron's fix below, this sister template is no longer needed. Therefore...speedy deletion requested. —MJCdetroit 03:02, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Year column

I made the year column appear only if it contains data, thus rendering Template:Infobox Weather2 redundant.--Doron 10:56, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Good job! You may have the honor of TfD'ing it! —MJCdetroit 17:52, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks... It would be easier, though, if you nominated it for speedy deletion, since you created it.--Doron 19:27, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] °F

Is this weathbox intended for use throughout the world? Because if it was, why is °F at the top, if the USA is the only country that primarily uses °F? 87.127.169.155 12:36, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Oh i see lol, never mind me, I skipped that Unit order section above.....

[edit] Weather plot

We can produce a plot of the weather data:

Beijing	Kuala Lumpur	Nord

I was thinking about maybe adding it to the infobox (perhaps as an option), what do you think?--Doron 00:47, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

I like it, as an option. Can I assume that it wouldn't require too much additional input from the end user? It is similar to a template that was just created—Template:Climate chart.—MJCdetroit 01:55, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

This is how the above examples look with {{climate chart}}, which may still need tweaking for places with extreme temperatures, like Nord. Zocky | picture popups 04:28, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Font color question

The font color for the colder temperatures (black on shades of med to dark blue) I feel are difficult to read. Would it be possible to tweak this somewhat, perhaps switch to white on the darker blues? Please see infobox at Houston, Texas. Thanks, Postoak 00:54, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

This is also an issue for New Plymouth, is it possible to change the threshold where the font colour changes to white? Thanks XLerate 03:10, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Brackets

I think fahrenheit should be in brackets, not the other way around, while still being able to have centermeters in brackets on the hight measurements. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ajuk (talk • contribs)

Setting the "metric_first" variable to yes puts the metric units outside the brackets and the imperials units into the brackets.--Bobblehead ^(rants) 18:46, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

I think that Ajuk wanted to have it mixed, e.g. 30°C (86°F) with 1 in (2.5 cm). Which isn't possible. —MJCdetroit 18:56, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Oops. Good point. Not sure why you'd want to do that though.--Bobblehead ^(rants) 19:01, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Celsius is not to Fahrenheit in the same way that MM are to Inches, its just perceived that way because Fahrenheit is older and less used, pesonally I have not problem with inches etc Fahrenheit I find hard to understand because it doesn't start at freezing.Ajuk 19:29, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

300 million Americans (including me) and many in Canada and the Caribbean will bitterly contest your views of the Fahrenheit scale and its lack of use and understandablity. Trust me, we all know what happens at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. —MJCdetroit 01:41, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Consistency in Wikipedia is a great goal (I compiled the first edition of the Manual of Style.) There is nothing horribly wrong with having metric ("centermeters"!) first and Fahrenheit in brackets, but I do feel like weighing in on the "understandability" issue:

Metric degrees are too damn big. Fahrenheit degrees are just right. That is, for everyday temperatures, Celsius degrees are simply too crude.

With F degrees, the range of temperatures commonly encountered in everyday life goes from 0° (a really cold day, 32° being merely brisk and possibly icy) to 100° (a slight fever or a really hot day). From there, the next interesting benchmarks are well outside everyday physical experience, being used mainly in basic chemical processes, 212° (eggs) and 350° (bread and cookies).

With C degrees, the "everyday life" temperatures are crammed in between -18° and 38°. The remaining "top 100 Celsius degrees" are of no particular daily applicability. As for the higher chemical readings, the temperature of melted steel (1200° F, 650° C) or the surface of the sun, it hardly matters to us which degrees we use, but Celsius would certainly be the scientist's first choice, as it is for the temperature of deep space.

There is a lot of practical compatibility in the other metric measurements, liter to pint, half kilogram to pound, meter to yard, etc., because the scales themselves are relatively compatible, although it is worth noting that the non-metric measurements usually derive from some human comparison, "the foot" and "a foot" and not the wavelength of red light. Nonetheless, there is limited dissonance in switching from one to the other, while with "normal" temperatures, Celsius is a 20 percent outlier at the bottom and a 60 percent outlier at the top while Fahrenheit is all sweet spot.

How about that, MJCdetroit? Is that what you were thinking of? -- Ortolan88 15:31, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] New infobox

Is there a need for Template:Infobox Weather wrapped? VerruckteDan 22:16, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

No. Delete it. If there is a need for a "wrap" then it should be discussed here instead of creating yet another new template. —MJCdetroit 03:00, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

I placed it up for deletion at Wikipedia:Templates for deletion/Log/2007 September 4, if you wish to vote on it. —MJCdetroit 16:00, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hidden by default

Chennai article uses the Weather infobox. I like the way it is collapsible, but I would like it to be collapsed by default and only expanded when the user hits the "show" button. Is this easy to do? Lotlil 20:20, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Add a collapsed=yes argument to the template call list in your article.--Doron 21:33, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

That worked. Thanks a ton. Lotlil 21:36, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Misleading colours for precipitation

The colours for precipitation should be based on the average preciptiation rate (mm per day) not monthly total.

Take Bristol as an example: 127.6mm in February, 133.6 in March. As it currently stands, March is shaded a darker blue, suggesting that it is a wetter month. But of course March has more days. Divide these numbers by 28.25 and 31 respectively, and you see that February has a greater rainfall rate. So the shading is misleading.

Clearly this issue has been already thought about to some extent, because the choice of colour for the annual total precipitation clearly already takes into account that the year is a longer period than a month, so it must be possible to fix this detail.

Thanks. — Alan^✉ 15:39, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

Hi Alan. Perhaps the template could be altered to take account of this issue, where longer months seem wetter. One issue would be what to do with February; one assumes that a average of 28.25 days would be used.

However, there is one thing that your quite reasonable argument may be affected by. As we all know, rainfall amounts vary greatly over small spacial areas, particularly in coastal or mountainous areas, or near built-up areas. The averages shown in the tables on WP are mostly those from official meteorological stations or airports, and as the Met Office points out, the averages from those stations are only truly indicative of the climate in that exact location, and even that is affected by inaccuracies in recording. Rainfall amounts a kilometre away will be a few millimetres different to that of the official record, therefore altering the colouring to account for the 3% difference in month length is, as my physics lecturer constantly reminded me, inventing a false level of accuracy which is not actually present. Rossenglish (talk) 14:06, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for your reply. I still think that it's sensible to divide by the number of days in each month when working out what colour to use, so that the colours will only show month-to-month variation where this reflects actual differences in the rainfall rate, and not simply due to the varying lengths of the months. Of course your point about the locations being slightly off seems a good one, but I think that that's a slightly separate issue, in that my point is more to do with the variations than with the absolute value. — Alan^✉ 19:33, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

As per discussions with Alan012, I'd like to ask someone with the knowledge of this template if it is possible for the template to display background colours based on the rainfall total divided by the number of days in the month (28.25 for Feb). If it is possible, and others agree, I would request that this index could be the one used by the template instead of the colour based on rainfall total; my previous concern with the change is no longer an issue. Rossenglish (talk) 20:06, 1 January 2008 (UTC) I would add that in a lot of cases, the slight change in definition will not affect the colour, so the amount of work involved may counter the slight benefit in improving monthly comparison. If it is decided after consideration that this slight improvement does not justify the amount of work, then I would accept the status quo. Rossenglish (talk) 20:12, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

The colours used currently are in effect based on the average length of a month (365.25/12 = 30.4375). I think that if we have a 'new' colour, then it would be determined by dividing the rainfall total by 30.4375 and multiplying by the length of the month. This would only change the colour with months that have rainfall totals close (within 1 or 2 mm) to the current thresholds of the nearest 10 mm. Rossenglish (talk) 20:20, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] A few problems

As mentioned above the black font on dark blue at the -15.0 - -12.1 range is very hard to read and would be easier if it was white on blue.

Second when I use the "single_line= Yes" optin I get several temperatures that look like this;

-26.0 (-
15)

So I removed that but it makes things worse, as there are a bit too many colours. I used it here and I am getting 13 or 14 different colours making the box look very busy. Is there any way to cut down the number of coulours used. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 16:10, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

To the right are the color schemes as programmed by User:Doron for what it is worth. Maybe he can reprogram them. Also in your -26 (-15) example, I tried (in FF2 winxppro) to and never got the weird break between the negative sign and the value; it always stayed together.—MJCdetroit ^(yak) 17:53, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

I think the issue with the infobox here is that because of the record max and min temps, there is a large range of temperatures. I think that reducing the number of colours used in the template will not solve this, as whatever ranges are used for the colours, there will still be widely ranging colours displayed. Perhaps the colours could be used on a slightly larger range, however that would only really benefit the display of extreme temperatures, and lose the finer detail needed to describe the mean temperatures and less extreme climates. 86.146.142.63 (talk) 19:44, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, it turns out the break is only visible on 15" monitors, which is what we have at work. Back at home on the 17 and 19 it's fine, which I should have thought of first. So with it all being on the one line the number of colours isn't so bad. It would be better if somebody hadn't made an error in 1948 though. The yellow box with 7.8 in January looks silly but it's a sourced figure. I'll ask Doron about the one blue with black font as that is hard to see. Thanks. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 20:52, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Doron doesn't look to be very active at the moment. Therefore, I made a logical guess here and it seemed to have had the change that you requested on Doron's talk page. —MJCdetroit ^(yak) 21:26, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. That makes all the difference. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 08:46, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Cut-off et cetera problems

Hi there. I don't know if anyone experiences problems like this, but when using Firefox, a part of the template is hidden behind the infobox/geobox and when using Opera/MSIE, it moves down after infobox, creating unused white space (example Banská Bystrica). Any ideas how to solve this (except moving down, of course)? Personally I would reduce size of fields and text so it would fit in but I don't want to do so as I don't know if someone will revert me straight away after such change. MarkBA ^{what's up?/my mess} 20:56, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

{{-}} before the infobox helps, but I didn't see what you were talking about. —MJCdetroit ^(yak) 21:22, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, thanks anyway for "solution". It still does create white space, but both are visible. I meant this: if we could reduce value "style="width:90%"" and relevant lines into 80 or 75, the fields wouldn't be so wide (at least I think) and the infobox wouldn't conflict Geobox in any way. Do you see my point? MarkBA ^{what's up?/my mess} 21:32, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

I think this confusion was created by a wrong example. An article with blank space after adding "{{-}}" is Žilina. The previous version of this article with a conflict between a weather infobox and a geobox (only in Firefox) can be seen here[1]. Tankred (talk) 22:00, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] No Longer Centred

Hi all, the weather infobox no longer centres, it aligns to the left, this seems to be due to recent changes. Example: Geography of Cornwall. Could this be fixed or a way to choose the alignment added? Many thanks --Joowwww (talk) 02:03, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

A quick solution for now is:

<table align="center"> <td>{{Infobox Weather}}</td> </table>

[edit] Upgraded to include Rain Fall and Snow Fall and made Precip optional.

I upgraded the template to include Rain fall and snow fall. I've also made the "Precip" fields optional. Therefore, it is possible to have just the average high and low temperatures showing. Some sources give total precipitation and others give rain fall and snow fall. My thinking was that "Precipitation", "Rain Fall" and "Snow Fall" should never be used all at the same time, but the downfall is that it is possible. I hope to have an example (probably Ottawa) soon.

Also, since the template is unprotected, anyone can revert my changes if something gets screwed up. —MJCdetroit ^(yak) 17:39, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Example added: —MJCdetroit ^(yak) 19:20, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

It might be a good idea to put in a cautionary note to editors that they not to add the rain and snow together to get the total precipitation. CambridgeBayWeather Have a gorilla 22:58, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Sunshine

Hi, have tried editing the templates to include monthly sunshine totals. However I don't think it's worked out correctly. Can some nice person have a look at it? Yorkshiresky (talk) 16:29, 20 April 2008 (UTC)