diff --git a/met/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.cc b/met/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.cc
index 81d707c5a7..7862c1e525 100644
--- a/met/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.cc
+++ b/met/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.cc
@@ -86,6 +86,14 @@ void m_strncpy(char *to_str, const char *from_str, const int buf_len,
       if (str_len > buf_len) str_len = buf_len;
 
       memset(to_str, 0, str_len);
+      // Kludge: there were cases that sizeof returns 8 instead of the real size.
+      // Use sizeof only if it's not 8.
+      int to_buf_size = sizeof(to_str);
+      if (to_buf_size != 8) {
+         if (str_len < to_buf_size) memset(to_str, str_len, to_buf_size);
+         if (str_len > to_buf_size) str_len = to_buf_size;  // truncate
+      }
+
       string temp_str = from_str;
       temp_str.copy(to_str, str_len);
       to_str[str_len] = 0;
@@ -99,4 +107,25 @@ void m_strncpy(char *to_str, const char *from_str, const int buf_len,
 
 }
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+void m_rstrip(char *str_buf, int buf_len) {
+   // Make sure it's NULL terminated
+   if (buf_len >= 0) str_buf[buf_len] = '\0';
+   // Change the trailing blank space to a null
+   int str_len = m_strlen(str_buf);
+   for(int idx=str_len-1; idx>=0; idx--) {
+      if(is_whitespaces(str_buf[idx])) {
+         str_buf[idx] = '\0';
+         if((idx > 0) && !is_whitespaces(str_buf[idx-1])) break;
+      }
+   }
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+bool is_whitespaces(char cur_char) {
+   return (' ' == cur_char || '\t' == cur_char || '\n' == cur_char || '\r' == cur_char);
+}
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/met/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.h b/met/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.h
index 5d74eef860..9a2e72a09d 100644
--- a/met/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.h
+++ b/met/src/basic/vx_log/str_wrappers.h
@@ -27,6 +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 bool is_whitespaces(char cur_char);
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
 
diff --git a/met/src/tools/other/ioda2nc/ioda2nc.cc b/met/src/tools/other/ioda2nc/ioda2nc.cc
index 04c58c0909..2c8f67d8ba 100644
--- a/met/src/tools/other/ioda2nc/ioda2nc.cc
+++ b/met/src/tools/other/ioda2nc/ioda2nc.cc
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ static const char * DEF_CONFIG_NAME = "MET_BASE/config/IODA2NCConfig_default";
 
 static const char *program_name = "ioda2nc";
 
+static const int REJECT_DEBUG_LEVEL = 9;
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
 //
@@ -150,7 +152,6 @@ static void set_valid_beg_time(const StringArray &);
 static void set_valid_end_time(const StringArray &);
 static void set_verbosity(const StringArray &);
 
-static void cleanup_hdr_buf(char *hdr_buf, int buf_len);
 static bool check_core_data(const bool, const bool, StringArray &, StringArray &);
 static bool check_missing_thresh(float value);
 static ConcatString find_meta_name(StringArray, StringArray);
@@ -662,9 +663,7 @@ void process_ioda_file(int i_pb) {
       if(has_msg_type) {
          int buf_len = sizeof(modified_hdr_typ);
          m_strncpy(hdr_typ, hdr_msg_types+(i_read*nstring), nstring, method_name, "hdr_typ");
-         hdr_typ[nstring] = 0;
-         // Null terminate the message type string
-         cleanup_hdr_buf(hdr_typ, nstring);
+         m_rstrip(hdr_typ, nstring);
 
          // If the message type is not listed in the configuration
          // file and it is not the case that all message types should be
@@ -692,8 +691,7 @@ 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, "tmp_sid");
-         tmp_sid[nstring] = 0;
-         cleanup_hdr_buf(tmp_sid, nstring);
+         m_rstrip(tmp_sid, nstring);
          hdr_sid = tmp_sid;
       }
       else hdr_sid.clear();
@@ -986,25 +984,13 @@ void clean_up() {
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
-static void cleanup_hdr_buf(char *hdr_buf, int buf_len) {
-   int i;
-   hdr_buf[buf_len] = '\0';
-   // Change the trailing blank space to a null
-   for(i=buf_len-1; i>=0; i--) {
-      if(' ' == hdr_buf[i]) {
-         hdr_buf[i] = '\0';
-         if(i > 0 && ' ' != hdr_buf[i-1]) break;
-      }
-   }
-}
-
-////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-
 bool keep_message_type(const char *mt_str) {
-   bool keep = false;
+   bool keep = conf_info.message_type.n_elements() == 0 ||
+               conf_info.message_type.has(mt_str, false);
 
-   keep = conf_info.message_type.n_elements() == 0 ||
-          conf_info.message_type.has(mt_str, false);
+   if(!keep && mlog.verbosity_level() >= REJECT_DEBUG_LEVEL) {
+      mlog << Debug(REJECT_DEBUG_LEVEL) << "The message type [" << mt_str << "] is rejected\n";
+   }
 
    return(keep);
 }
@@ -1013,8 +999,14 @@ bool keep_message_type(const char *mt_str) {
 
 bool keep_station_id(const char *sid_str) {
 
-   return(conf_info.station_id.n_elements() == 0 ||
-          conf_info.station_id.has(sid_str, false));
+   bool keep = (conf_info.station_id.n_elements() == 0 ||
+                conf_info.station_id.has(sid_str, false));
+
+   if(!keep && mlog.verbosity_level() >= REJECT_DEBUG_LEVEL) {
+      mlog << Debug(REJECT_DEBUG_LEVEL) << "The station ID [" << sid_str << "] is rejected\n";
+   }
+
+   return(keep);
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -1036,6 +1028,11 @@ bool keep_valid_time(const unixtime ut,
       if(ut > max_ut) keep = false;
    }
 
+   if(!keep && mlog.verbosity_level() >= REJECT_DEBUG_LEVEL) {
+      mlog << Debug(REJECT_DEBUG_LEVEL) << "The valid_time [" << ut << ", "
+           << unix_to_yyyymmdd_hhmmss(ut) << "] is rejected\n";
+   }
+
    return(keep);
 }