Describe the New Feature

There are many ways that plot_point_obs could be improved. Listed below are some recommended changes based on a recent met_help question from Binyu:

We should change plot_point_obs’s command line argument from:
-data_file path to gridded data file
To:
-plot_grid filename, grid name, grid spec

And then just reuse the same logic for parsing “to_grid” in regrid_data_plane. Still quietly support -data_file.

From binyu’s met_help question. She also want to filter obs by their height or pressure.

We could also add an optional plot_point_obs config file consisting of a “plot_options” array where each element is a dictionary defining a filter and set of plotting options. The logic would be... for each plot_options entry, loop through all of the input point observations and plot the matching dots. The alternative logic would be to only read the obs once, and then plot a dot using the matching plot_options entry. Or if none match, plot nothing. I think the second logic is simpler.

// Default config file

outline_color = “”;
fill_color = “red”;
fill_color_table = “”; // takes precedence over fill_color. Does this mean we need a color bar?
dotsize = 10; // could be a function of obs value?

message_type = [];
obs_var = [];
height_thresh = NA;
pressure_thresh = NA;
obs_thresh = NA;
obs_qc = [];
// what about convert and censor_thresh/censor_val?

plot_options = [
{ fill_color = “red”; }
];

Acceptance Testing

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Time Estimate

3 days.

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