diff --git a/modules/util/gfs_reader.py b/modules/util/gfs_reader.py
index 4281bd15e6b00b2909b60492c38e6e1f18f2385a..3b000a0a0d0e4a264ff9702e368135c1ecccb057 100644
--- a/modules/util/gfs_reader.py
+++ b/modules/util/gfs_reader.py
@@ -25,6 +25,13 @@ class MyGenericException(Exception):
         self.message = message
 
 
+def get_timestamp(filename):
+    toks = filename.split('.')
+    tstr = toks[1].split('_')[0]
+    dto = datetime.datetime.strptime(tstr, gfs_date_format + '%H').replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc)
+    return dto.timestamp()
+
+
 def get_time_tuple_utc(timestamp):
     dt_obj = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp, timezone.utc)
     return dt_obj, dt_obj.timetuple()