diff --git a/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.cc b/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.cc
index 79578d4362..7606f2a7d7 100644
--- a/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.cc
+++ b/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.cc
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@ using namespace std;
 #include "str_wrappers.h"
 
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+bool is_whitespaces(char cur_char) {
+   return (' ' == cur_char || '\t' == cur_char || '\n' == cur_char || '\r' == cur_char);
+}
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
 int m_strlen(const char *str) {
@@ -109,7 +115,22 @@ void m_strncpy(char *to_str, const char *from_str, const int buf_len,
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
-void m_rstrip(char *str_buf, int buf_len) {
+bool m_replace_char(char *str_buf, char from_ch, char to_ch, bool all_instances) {
+   bool replaced = false;
+   int str_len = m_strlen(str_buf);
+   for(int idx=0; idx<str_len; idx++) {
+      if (from_ch == str_buf[idx]) {
+         replaced = true;
+         str_buf[idx] = to_ch;
+         if (!all_instances) break;
+      }
+   }
+   return replaced;
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+void m_rstrip(char *str_buf, int buf_len, bool find_white_ch) {
    // Make sure it's NULL terminated
    if (buf_len >= 0) str_buf[buf_len] = '\0';
    // Change the trailing blank space to a null
@@ -119,13 +140,8 @@ void m_rstrip(char *str_buf, int buf_len) {
          str_buf[idx] = '\0';
          if((idx > 0) && !is_whitespaces(str_buf[idx-1])) break;
       }
+      else if (!find_white_ch) break;
    }
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-
-bool is_whitespaces(char cur_char) {
-   return (' ' == cur_char || '\t' == cur_char || '\n' == cur_char || '\r' == cur_char);
-}
-
-////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.h b/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.h
index 579f702b4e..dfc2188447 100644
--- a/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.h
+++ b/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.h
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@ extern void m_strncpy(char *to_str, const char *from_str, const int buf_len,
                       const char *method_name, const char *extra_msg=(char *)0,
                       bool truncate=false);
 
-extern void m_rstrip(char *str_buf, const int buf_len=-1);
+extern void m_rstrip(char *str_buf, const int buf_len=-1, bool find_white_ch=true);
+
+extern bool m_replace_char(char *str_buf, char from_ch, char to_ch,
+                           bool all_instances=true);
 
 extern bool is_whitespaces(char cur_char);
 
diff --git a/src/basic/vx_util/observation.cc b/src/basic/vx_util/observation.cc
index 68f5646f86..c401418aa1 100644
--- a/src/basic/vx_util/observation.cc
+++ b/src/basic/vx_util/observation.cc
@@ -52,6 +52,11 @@ Observation::Observation(const string &header_type, const string &station_id,
   _height(height_m),
   _value(value)
 {
+
+string::iterator it = _stationId.begin();
+while (' ' == *it) it++;    // skip leading spaces
+std::replace(it, _stationId.end(), ' ', '_');
+
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/tools/other/ioda2nc/ioda2nc.cc b/src/tools/other/ioda2nc/ioda2nc.cc
index 5007a7384f..90c6c75c34 100644
--- a/src/tools/other/ioda2nc/ioda2nc.cc
+++ b/src/tools/other/ioda2nc/ioda2nc.cc
@@ -692,7 +692,8 @@ void process_ioda_file(int i_pb) {
       if(has_station_id) {
          char tmp_sid[nstring+1];
          m_strncpy(tmp_sid, hdr_station_ids+(i_read*nstring), nstring, method_name_s, "tmp_sid");
-         m_rstrip(tmp_sid, nstring);
+         m_rstrip(tmp_sid, nstring, false);
+         m_replace_char(tmp_sid, ' ', '_');
          hdr_sid = tmp_sid;
       }
       else hdr_sid.clear();