Open Radar Data

0.7.0 verified Mon Apr 27 auth: no python

Provides utility functions for accessing the open radar data repository for examples and notebooks. Current version 0.7.0, requires Python >=3.9.

pip install open-radar-data

Common errors

error AttributeError: module 'open_radar_data' has no attribute 'datasets' ↓

cause Importing the package without submodule fails because datasets is a submodule.

fix

Use 'from open_radar_data import datasets'

error TypeError: cannot unpack non-iterable str object ↓

cause The fetch() function used to return two values (< v0.7.0) but now returns a single string.

fix

Change code from 'path, filename = datasets.fetch(...)' to 'path = datasets.fetch(...)'

error ValueError: Dataset 'nexrad_level2_example' not found ↓

cause Dataset name is case-sensitive or not a valid key. Check list_datasets() for exact names.

fix

Run datasets.list_datasets() to see available dataset names and use an exact match.

Warnings

breaking In version 0.7.0 the fetch() function changed from returning a tuple (path, filename) to returning a string path. Code using unpacking will break. ↓

fix Update callers to expect a single string: file_path = datasets.fetch('dataset_name')

deprecated The function 'get_path()' is deprecated in favor of 'fetch()' and may be removed in a future release. ↓

fix Replace datasets.get_path('name') with datasets.fetch('name')

gotcha Some datasets require internet access to download. The library does not cache aggressively; repeated calls may re-download. ↓

fix Manually cache the returned path or set environment variable OPEN_RADAR_DATA_CACHE_DIR to a persistent directory.

Imports

open_radar_data
wrong
```
import open_radar_data
```
correct
```
from open_radar_data import datasets
```
Direct import of the package gives access to internal modules; use datasets to fetch data.

Quickstart

Fetch a public radar dataset by name. The function downloads it if not cached.

from open_radar_data import datasets

# List available datasets
datasets.list_datasets()

# Download a dataset (returns path to downloaded file)
file_path = datasets.fetch('nexrad_level2_example')
print(file_path)