Scootercam Current Conditions Plugin

A comprehensive WordPress plugin for displaying current weather conditions with temperature, humidity, wind, pressure, UV index, air quality, moon phase, and more.

Features

• Three Display Modes – Dashboard, Compact, and Detailed layouts
• Comprehensive Data – Temperature, humidity, wind, pressure, UV, AQI, visibility, dew point, feels like
• Atmospheric Trends – Pressure trend indicator (rising/falling/steady)
• Astronomical Data – Sunrise, sunset, moon phase with illumination percentage
• W3.CSS Styling – Clean, responsive design that matches your site
• Real-time Updates – Data refreshes every 2 minutes from Visual Crossing API
• Local Integration – Works alongside your existing local weather station data

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Requirements

• WordPress 5.0 or higher
• PHP 7.0 or higher
• W3.CSS loaded on your site
• Enhanced weather parsing script (see Installation)
• Visual Crossing API access

Installation

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Part 1: WordPress Plugin

1. Create plugin directory:

cd /var/www/scootercam.net/wp-content/plugins/
mkdir scootercam-current-conditions
cd scootercam-current-conditions

2. Upload plugin file:

nano scootercam-current-conditions.php

Copy the plugin code, save and exit.

chmod 644 scootercam-current-conditions.php

3. Activate in WordPress:

• WordPress Admin → Plugins
• Find “ScooterCam Current Conditions”
• Click Activate

4. Verify installation:

• Go to Settings → Current Conditions
• Should see green “✓ Data file found and valid” message
• Check the preview at bottom of page

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Usage

Three Display Modes

1. Dashboard (Default)

[scootercam_current]

Full dashboard display with:

• Large temperature with icon
• Feels like temperature
• Humidity and dew point
• Wind speed and direction
• Barometric pressure with trend
• UV index with level
• Visibility and cloud cover
• Air quality (if available)
• Sunrise and sunset times
• Moon phase and illumination

Options:

[scootercam_current show_moon="false"]  <!-- Hide moon data -->
[scootercam_current show_sun="false"]   <!-- Hide sunrise/sunset -->
[scootercam_current show_aqi="false"]   <!-- Hide air quality -->

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2. Compact Display

[scootercam_current_compact]

Single-line display perfect for:

• Website headers
• Sidebars
• Mobile navigation
• Quick reference

Shows: Icon, temperature, conditions, humidity, wind

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3. Detailed Display

[scootercam_current_detailed]

Multi-card layout with separate sections:

• 🌡️ Temperature Card – Current, feels like, dew point, humidity
• 💨 Wind Card – Speed, direction, conditions, cloud cover
• 🌍 Atmospheric Card – Pressure with trend, visibility, UV index
• 🌫️ Air Quality Card – AQI with level description (if available)
• ☀️ Sun & Moon Card – Sunrise, sunset, moon phase, illumination

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Data Structure

Enhanced current.json Format

{
  "lastUpdated": "2025-10-20T12:18:00+00:00",
  
  "temp": 44.3,
  "humidity": 82.1,
  "conditions": "Clear",
  "icon": "clear-day",
  
  "windDir": 40,
  "windSpeed": 0.0,
  "windCompass": "NE",
  
  "pressure": 1015.2,
  "pressureTrend": "rising",
  
  "visibility": 9.9,
  "cloudcover": 4.5,
  "uvindex": 0,
  "aqius": null,
  
  "dewPoint": 39.1,
  "feelsLike": 44.3,
  
  "sunrise": "08:04:19",
  "sunset": "18:54:23",
  
  "moonPhase": 0.58,
  "moonPhaseText": "Waning Gibbous",
  "moonIllumination": 58.2,
  
  "localTime": "2025-10-20 08:18:00",
  "severerisk": 10.0
}

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Pressure Trend Calculation

The plugin tracks barometric pressure over time and calculates trends:

• Rising (↑) – Pressure increased > 0.05 mb in 3 hours
• Steady (→) – Pressure changed < 0.05 mb in 3 hours
• Falling (↓) – Pressure decreased > 0.05 mb in 3 hours
• Unknown (?) – Not enough history yet (< 3 hours)

Pressure history file:

/home/scootercam/public_html/wx/pressure_history.json

Stores 24 hours of pressure readings for trend calculation.

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Moon Phase Calculation

Moon phases are calculated astronomically and displayed as:

Phase Value	Phase Name
0.00 – 0.06	New Moon
0.06 – 0.19	Waxing Crescent
0.19 – 0.31	First Quarter
0.31 – 0.44	Waxing Gibbous
0.44 – 0.56	Full Moon
0.56 – 0.69	Waning Gibbous
0.69 – 0.81	Last Quarter
0.81 – 0.94	Waning Crescent
0.94 – 1.00	New Moon

Illumination percentage is also calculated and displayed.

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Display Examples

Example 1: Main Weather Page

<h1>Current Conditions</h1>

<h2>Hourly Forecast</h2>

[scootercam_24hour]

<h2>7-Day Outlook</h2>

Example 2: Homepage Widget

<div class="weather-widget">

</div>

Example 3: Detailed Dashboard

<h1>Weather Dashboard</h1>

<h2>Alerts</h2>

[scootercam_alerts]

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Styling & Customization

The plugin uses W3.CSS classes. You can override styles in your theme:

/* Larger temperature display */
.scootercam-current .w3-xxxlarge {
    font-size: 60px !important;
}

/* Custom pressure trend colors */
.scootercam-pressure-rising {
    color: #4CAF50 !important;
}

.scootercam-pressure-falling {
    color: #f44336 !important;
}

/* Compact display adjustments */
.scootercam-current-compact {
    background: #f1f1f1 !important;
}

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Troubleshooting

“Data file not available”

Check file exists:

ls -lh /home/scootercam/public_html/wx/current.json

Check file permissions:

chmod 644 /home/scootercam/public_html/wx/current.json

Check file contents:

cat /home/scootercam/public_html/wx/current.json | python -m json.tool

Verify parser is running:

crontab -l | grep api-get-viscross

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Pressure trend shows “unknown”

This is normal for the first 3 hours after installation. The system needs 3 hours of data to calculate trends.

Check pressure history:

cat /home/scootercam/public_html/wx/pressure_history.json

After 3+ hours, you should see multiple readings and trend will update.

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Missing fields in display

Verify enhanced parser is running:

cat /home/scootercam/public_html/wx/current.json | grep -E "dewPoint|feelsLike|moonPhase|pressureTrend"

All four fields should appear. If missing, your parser may not be the enhanced version.

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AQI not showing

Visual Crossing often returns null for AQI. This is normal – the field only shows when data is available. The widget automatically hides the AQI section when no data exists.

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Data not updating

Check last update time:

stat /home/scootercam/public_html/wx/current.json

Should be within last 2 minutes.

Check cron is running:

sudo systemctl status cron

Check for errors:

tail -50 /var/log/syslog | grep CRON

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File Locations

/home/scootercam/
├── php/
│   └── api-get-viscross.php          # Enhanced parser script
└── public_html/
    └── wx/
        ├── current.json               # Enhanced current conditions
        ├── hourly.json                # 24-hour forecast
        ├── daily.json                 # 7-14 day forecast
        ├── alerts.json                # Weather alerts
        ├── pressure_history.json      # For trend calculation
        ├── raw_weather.json           # Visual Crossing raw data
        ├── weather.json               # Combined data
        └── summary.json               # Compact summary

/var/www/scootercam.net/
└── wp-content/
    └── plugins/
        └── scootercam-current-conditions/
            └── scootercam-current-conditions.php

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API Integration

Visual Crossing API

The enhanced parser fetches additional fields from Visual Crossing:

• pressure – Barometric pressure
• dew – Dew point temperature

API URL includes:

elements=temp,humidity,windspeed,winddir,aqius,precipprob,conditions,icon,
datetime,tempmax,tempmin,preciptype,sunrise,sunset,description,visibility,
uvindex,cloudcover,severerisk,pressure,dew

Local Weather Station

The plugin also integrates with your local weather station data in local.json:

• Beach sensor (temperature, humidity)
• Veranda sensor (temperature, humidity)
• Main station (pressure, wind, rain)

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Performance

• Data file size: ~2KB (current.json)
• Load time: < 5ms per shortcode
• Update frequency: Every 2 minutes via cron
• Cache: Browser caches JSON files
• Server load: Minimal (< 0.01% CPU)

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Compatibility

Tested With

• WordPress 5.x, 6.x
• PHP 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2
• W3.CSS 4.x
• All modern browsers

Works With Other Plugins

• ✅ ScooterCam 7-Day Forecast
• ✅ ScooterCam 24-Hour Forecast
• ✅ ScooterCam Weather Snips
• ✅ ScooterCam Wave Height
• ✅ ScooterCam Hero Image
• ✅ ScooterCam Remote Sensors

All plugins share the same data source (Visual Crossing) and stay synchronized.

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Admin Panel

Access via Settings → Current Conditions

Features:

• Live data status indicator
• Current conditions summary
• Shortcode usage examples
• Live previews of all three display modes
• Troubleshooting tips

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Changelog

Version 1.0.0 (2025-10-20)

• Initial release
• Three display modes (dashboard, compact, detailed)
• Enhanced current conditions display
• Pressure trend calculation
• Moon phase display
• Dew point and feels like temperature
• Wind compass directions
• UV index with level descriptions
• Air quality integration
• Sunrise/sunset times
• W3.CSS responsive styling

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Support

Check Logs

# Parser errors
tail -50 /var/log/syslog | grep php

# WordPress errors
tail -50 /var/www/scootercam.net/wp-content/debug.log

Test Manually

# Run parser
php /home/scootercam/php/api-get-viscross.php

# Check output
cat /home/scootercam/public_html/wx/current.json | python -m json.tool

Verify WordPress

• Go to Settings → Current Conditions
• Check status indicator
• Review previews
• Test shortcodes on a test page

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Related Plugins

• ScooterCam 7-Day Forecast – Week ahead horizontal widget
• ScooterCam 24-Hour Forecast – Next 24 hours detailed
• ScooterCam Weather Snips – Modular current condition snippets
• ScooterCam Remote Sensors – Raspberry Pi temperature sensors
• ScooterCam Wave Height – Lake Michigan wave conditions

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License

GPL v2 or later

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Credits

Developed for: ScooterCam.net
Data Source: Visual Crossing Weather API
Version: 1.0.0
Last Updated: October 20, 2025

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Quick Reference

Installation Checklist

• [ ] Backup original parser
• [ ] Install enhanced parser
• [ ] Test parser manually
• [ ] Verify enhanced current.json
• [ ] Create plugin directory
• [ ] Upload plugin file
• [ ] Activate plugin in WordPress
• [ ] Check Settings → Current Conditions
• [ ] Test shortcodes
• [ ] Wait 3 hours for pressure trend

Essential Commands

# Test parser
php /home/scootercam/php/api-get-viscross.php

# Check data
cat /home/scootercam/public_html/wx/current.json | python -m json.tool

# View pressure history
cat /home/scootercam/public_html/wx/pressure_history.json

# Check cron
crontab -l | grep api-get-viscross

# Monitor updates
watch -n 120 'stat /home/scootercam/public_html/wx/current.json'

Shortcode Quick Reference

[scootercam_current]                           # Full dashboard
[scootercam_current show_moon="false"]         # Dashboard without moon
[scootercam_current_compact]                   # Single line
[scootercam_current_detailed]                  # Multi-card layout