Archived Required Commands
-d = Date. The date of the model run in the format of YYYY-mm-dd.
(i.e. December 25th, 2025 should be entered as -d 2025-12-25)
-r = Run. The model runtime in UTC (0, 6, 12, 18).
(i.e. for the 12z run set -r 12)
Globally Valid Commands (valid for both “latest” and “archived”)
-t = type (Default=primary).
This determines the type of variables and levels.
Types
1) primary
2) secondary
-c = Category (Default=’mean’)
This determines the category of ensemble data
Categories
1) mean
2) members
3) spread
4) control
-f = Final Forecast Hour (Default=384).
The last hour the user wishes to download in the dataset. GEFS0P50 has 384 forecast hours.
-s = Source (Default=noaa).
Selects the primary data server to use. If the primary server is unavailable the client will rotate and try other servers.
Server Choices For Latest Data
noaa - NCEP/NOMADS
aws - Amazon Web Services
google - Google Cloud Servers
Server Choices For Archived Data
aws - Amazon Web Services
google - Google Cloud Servers
-cdir = Custom Directory (Default=None).
If the user wishes to build their own directory to hold the data files set -cd directory_branch_path. The default path is f:GEFS0P50/{CATEGORY}.
-cr = Clear Recycle Bin (Default=False).
For users who want to ensure old files are completely deleted when automating data retrieval set -cr True. Setting -cr True clears your recycle bin with each run of the script. This ensures if any old files are moved to the recycle bin are deleted if they are not already.
-wb = Western Bound - The western bound for subsetting the data range is from -180 to 180 degrees longitude. (Default=-180)
-eb = Eastern Bound - The eastern bound for subsetting the data range is from -180 to 180 degrees longitude. (Default=180)
-nb = Northern Bound - The northern bound for subsetting the data range is from -90 to 90 degrees latitude. (Default=90)
-sb = Southern Bound - The southern bound for subsetting the data range is from -90 to 90 degrees latitude. (Default=-90)
-m = Ensemble Members. (Default is all 30 members).
-v = Variables(Default=[‘geopotential_height’, ‘temperature’, ‘relative_humidity’, ‘u-component_of_wind’, ‘v-component_of_wind’])
The list of variables the user wants to query.
Here is a sample of how to query geopotential height and temperature gefs 0p25 latest -v geopotential_height -v temperature
Primary Variables
‘total_precipitation’
‘convective_available_potential_energy’
‘categorical_freezing_rain’
‘categorical_ice_pellets’
‘categorical_rain’
‘categorical_snow’
‘convective_inhibition’
‘downward_longwave_radiation_flux’
‘downward_shortwave_radiation_flux’
‘geopotential_height’
‘ice_thickness’
‘latent_heat_net_flux’
‘pressure’
‘mean_sea_level_pressure’
‘precipitable_water’
‘relative_humidity’
‘sensible_heat_net_flux’
‘snow_depth’
‘volumetric_soil_moisture_content’
‘total_cloud_cover’
‘maximum_temperature’
‘minimum_temperature’
‘temperature’
‘soil_temperature’
‘u-component_of_wind’
‘upward_longwave_radiation_flux’
‘upward_shortwave_radiation_flux’
‘v-component_of_wind’
‘vertical_velocity’
‘water_equivalent_of_accumulated_snow_depth’
Secondary_Variables
‘best_lifted_index’
‘5_wave_geopotential_height’
‘absolute_vorticity’
‘temperature’
‘dew_point’
‘convective_precipitation’
‘albedo’
‘apparent_temperature’
‘brightness_temperature’
‘convective_available_potential_energy’
‘clear_sky_uv-b_downward_solar_flux’
‘convective_inhibition’
‘cloud_mixing_ratio’
‘plant_canopy_surface_water’
‘percent_frozen_precipitaion’
‘convective_precipitation_rate’
‘cloud_water’
‘cloud_work_function’
‘uv-b_downward_solar_flux’
‘field_capacity’
‘surface_friction_velocity’
‘ground_heat_flux’
‘wind_gust’
‘geopotential_height’
‘haines_index’
‘storm_relative_helicity’
‘planetary_boundary_layer_height’
‘icao_standard_atmosphere_reference_height’
‘ice_cover’
‘icing’
‘icing_severity’
‘land_cover’
‘surface_lifted_index’
‘montgomery_stream_function’
‘mslp_(eta_model_reduction)’
‘large_scale_non-convective_precipitation’
‘ozone_mixing_ratio’
‘potential_evaporation_rate’
‘parcel_lifted_index_(to_500mb)’
‘pressure_level_from_which_parcel_was_lifted’
‘potential_temperature’
‘precipitation_rate’
‘pressure’
‘potential_vorticity’
‘precipitable_water’
‘relative_humidity’
‘surface_roughness’
‘snow_phase-change_heat_flux’
‘snow_cover’
‘liquid_volumetric_soil_moisture_(non-frozen)’
‘volumetric_soil_moisture_content’
‘specific_humidity’
‘sunshine_duration’
‘total_cloud_cover’
‘total_ozone’
‘soil_temperature’
‘momentum_flux_(u-component)’
‘u-component_of_wind’
‘zonal_flux_of_gravity_wave_stress’
‘u-component_of_storm_motion’
‘upward_shortwave_radiation_flux’
‘momentum_flux_(v-component)’
‘v-component_of_wind’
‘meridional_flux_of_gravity_wave_stress’
‘visibility’
‘ventilation_rate’
‘v-component_of_storm_motion’
‘vertical_velocity’
‘vertical_speed_shear’
‘water_runoff’
‘wilting_point’
-l = Levels (Default=[1000, 925, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 100, 50, 10])
Here is a sample of how to query geopotential height and temperature at 850 and 500mb
wxdata-gefs 0p50 latest -v geopotential_height -v temperature -l 850 -l 500
The default setting of levels assume pressure levels are being used and that the category is set to primary.
-lt = Level Type (Default=pressure).
This corresponds to the type of level.
Primary Levels: 1000, 925, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 100, 50, 10
Secondary Levels: Default=None -> level_type=’surface’.
Example: level_type=’height above ground’ & levels=2 -> 2-meter above ground
-ct = Convert Temperature (Default=True).
When set to True any temperature fields are converted from Kelvin to either Celsius or Fahrenheit.
-tu = Temperature Units (Default=Celsius).
When -ct True this is where you declare the units for temperature to be converted to.
Level Types
‘pressure’
‘height below ground’
‘surface’
‘height above ground’
‘top of atmosphere’
‘pressure above ground’
‘mean sea level’
–process This flag when set to True will process the data in addition to downloading the data. (Default=True)
–proxy = Proxy Server (Default=None).
Client assumes user is not trying to download data through a proxy server.
If you are using a proxy server you can define it by using --proxy https://proxy-server-address:proxy-server-port
–netcdf = Converts GRIB data into netCDF4 and saves a netCDF (.nc) file. (Default=False). Set to True to create netCDF files.
Additional Relevant Flags when –netcdf True
–ncdir = Defines the local directory where the netCDF (.nc) file saves to. (Default=GEFS0P50/NETCDF).
–ncfname = Defines the filename for the netCDF (.nc) file. (Default=gefs_0p50.nc)
Commands Only Valid for “latest”
-cd = Clear Data (Default=False).
Only for wxdata-gefs 0p50 latest
Archived Clients Automatically Clear Old Data
When set to False the scanner safeguard that prevents repetative downloads is enabled. Set -cd False to disable this safety feature.
WARNING: When this feature is disabled and the user submits too many requests in a short period of time the user risks being rate-limited by the data server. If the user gets rate-limited, the user should wait approximately 5-10 minutes and retry downloading the data.
Complex Example
1) Download the latest GEFS0P50 for 2-meter temperature and 2-meter relative humidity from Amazon Web Services
Use a proxy server of address: https://proxy-server-address:proxy-server-port
Download only members 1-5
2) Subset the data to reflect CONUS [-130, -65, 50, 20] = [west, east, north, south]
3) Create a netCDF (.nc) file of the data called gefs0p50_members_t2m_rh.nc saved at Weather_Data/GEFS0P50/NETCDF.
Linux Shell:
# Define our coordinates so we don't pass in negative numbers into the command
western_bound=-130
eastern_bound=-65
northern_bound=50
southern_bound=20
wxdata-gefs 0p50 latest -c members -lt height_above_ground -l 2 -v temperature -v relative_humidity \
-m 1 -m 2 -m 3 -m 4 -m 5 -s aws -wb=$western_bound -eb=$eastern_bound -nb=$northern_bound -sb=$southern_bound \
--netcdf True --ncdir Weather_Data/GEFS0P50/NETCDF --ncfname gefs0p50_members_t2m_rh.nc \
--proxy https://proxy-server-address:proxy-server-port
Windows Powershell:
# Define our coordinates so we don't pass in negative numbers into the command
$WESTERN_BOUND=-130
$EASTERN_BOUND=-65
$NORTHERN_BOUND=50
$SOUTHERN_BOUND=20
wxdata-gefs 0p50 latest -c members -lt height_above_ground -l 2 -v temperature -v relative_humidity `
-m 1 -m 2 -m 3 -m 4 -m 5 -s aws -wb=$WESTERN_BOUND -eb=$EASTERN_BOUND -nb=$NORTHERN_BOUND -sb=$SOUTHERN_BOUND `
--netcdf True --ncdir Weather_Data/GEFS0P50/NETCDF --ncfname gefs0p50_members_t2m_rh.nc `
--proxy https://proxy-server-address:proxy-server-port