MET Stat Use Case: Performance Diagram

This use case demonstrates how to run VCasT to compute categorical statistics for performance diagrams using MET .stat files and a YAML configuration.

It uses a sample configuration file (cts.yaml) tailored to produce POD, Success Ratio, and other skill metrics for plotting.

Prerequisites

Before running the example, make sure VCasT is installed. Follow the installation steps in Quick Start Guide.

Run the Example

  1. Clone the test repository:

    git clone https://github.com/NOAA-GSL/VCasT-tests
cd VCasT-tests/examples/MET/performance_diagram

  2. Run VCasT with the provided YAML file:

    vcast cts.yaml

    This will load and process the .stat files under the ./stats directory using the configuration options defined below.

YAML Configuration Explained

Below is the content of cts.yaml, which configures VCasT to:

  • Load categorical statistics (line_type: cts)

  • Filter by model, variable, threshold, lead time, and region

  • Aggregate the results by model, variable, and lead time

Sample cts.yaml configuration
 1input_stat_folder: ./stats
 2line_type: cts
 3
 4date_column: "fcst_valid_beg"
 5start_date: "2024-04-29_12:00:00"
 6end_date: "2024-05-31_12:00:00"
 7
 8string_filters:
 9  model: ["RRFS_mem000"]
10  fcst_var: ["APCP_01"]
11  fcst_thresh: [">0.0"]
12  fcst_lead: ["0", "010000", "020000", "030000", "040000", "050000", "060000", "070000", "080000", "090000", "100000", "110000", "120000",
13              "130000", "140000", "150000", "160000", "170000", "180000", "190000", "200000", "210000", "220000", "230000"]
14  vx_mask: ["CONUS"]
15
16stat_vars: ["pody", "far", "csi", "fbias", "gss"]
17
18reformat_file: false
19output_reformat_file: "./filtered_output.data"
20
21output_file: false
22output_plot_file: "./vars.data"
23
24aggregate: true
25group_by: ["model", "fcst_var", "fcst_lead"]
26output_agg_file: "./APCP01_agg.data"

Output

An aggregated result will be saved to:

  • APCP01_agg.data - Categorical statistics for performance diagram generation.