Basics of opening NetCDF files with Python

netcdf_basics.py

#from netCDF4 import Dataset  # use scipy instead
from scipy.io import netcdf #### <--- This is the library to import.

# Open file in a netCDF reader
directory = './'
wrf_file_name = directory+'filename' 
nc = netcdf.netcdf_file(wrf_file_name,'r')

#Look at the variables available
nc.variables

#Look at the dimensions
nc.dimensions

#Look at a specific variable's dimensions
nc.variables['T2'].dimensions   ## output is ('Time', 'south_north', 'west_east')

#Look at a specific variable's units
nc.variables['T2'].units        ## output is ('K')


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#update: you should use xarray now to read netcdf files

hi, I get this when I try to import NetCDF "No module named 'scipy'". how do I deal with it?

pip install scipy or conda install scipy in your terminal :-)

cant't find coltbls?

@fipoucat You only need to import the scipy module.
But this is a really old gist. I would recommend using xarray to read netcdf files instead.