@staticmethod
def str_to_day_of_year(date_in):
    """
        converts a date given as "mo/day" into a day of year
        """
    daysInMonth = [31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31]
    month, day = date_in.split('/')
    dayOut = 0
    for m in range(1, int(month)):
        dayOut = dayOut + daysInMonth[m - 1]
    dayOut = dayOut + int(day)
    return dayOut
