wqshen / tc_markers

Tiny repo to just add Tropical Cyclone Markers to Matplotlib Plots

TC Markers

This is a tiny repo that solely houses Matplotib paths for Tropical Storm and Hurricane symbols, neccesarily duplicated for NH and SH direction.

What do the markers look like:

Great question, that's the most important thing right. Here's the current view of them:

Usage:

Version 0.0.3 includes a TD and EX symbol which will be the correct size for TS and HU comparison.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import tcmarkers


fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
marker_kwargs = {'markersize': 25, 'color':'r', 'markeredgecolor':'r'}
ax.plot(0.35, 0.25, marker=tcmarkers.EX, **marker_kwargs)
ax.plot(0.35, 0.20, marker=tcmarkers.SH_EX, **marker_kwargs)
ax.plot(0.3, 0.25, marker=tcmarkers.HU, **marker_kwargs)
ax.plot(0.3, 0.20, marker=tcmarkers.SH_HU, **marker_kwargs)
ax.plot(0.25, 0.25, marker=tcmarkers.TS,**marker_kwargs)
ax.plot(0.25, 0.20, marker=tcmarkers.SH_TS, **marker_kwargs)
ax.plot(0.20, 0.25, marker=tcmarkers.TD, **marker_kwargs)
ax.plot(0.20, 0.20, marker=tcmarkers.SH_TD, **marker_kwargs)
fig.show()

Dynamic selection of symbol based on vmax. Function based on string type coming next.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import tcmarkers


fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111)

for i, vmax in enumerate([33, 34, 64,]):
    ax.plot(i, 2, marker=tcmarkers.tc_marker(vmax), color='r', markeredgecolor='r', markersize=10)
    # pass latitude and SH storms returned for lat < 0
    ax.plot(i, 1, marker=tcmarkers.tc_marker(vmax, -30), color='r', markeredgecolor='r', markersize=10)

fig.show()

4 markers are now available, TD, TS, HU and EX these are available rotated for SH or original NH as well with the NH_ or SH_ prefix. e.g. NH_TD, NH_TS, NH_HU,NH_EX, SH_TD, SH_TS, SH_HU, SH_EX.

Contributing:

Have a better TC Marker? Update the SVG using the 4 characters IDs above for each object. The current markers are not perfect but I don't know how to inkscape well. Run the backend script to regenerate the markers.py file and submit a PR.

Future:

Maybe creating a child class of the matplotlib.path.Path would be nice. This could include a nicer repr and a name attribute, allowing the user to check which marker came back from the selection function?