def month_string_to_int(solar_dataframe):
    """This function translates string values for months into their integer representations"""
    #Use a dictionary to map text to integer values for the months - HDF5 needs no strings
    month_change = {'January':1,'February':2,'March':3,'April':4, 'May':5,'June':6,'July':7,
                'August':8,'September':9,'October':10, 'November':11,'December':12, 'Jan': 1,
               'Feb': 2, 'Mar': 3, 'Apr': 4, 'May': 5, 'Jun': 6, 'Jul': 7, 'Aug': 8,
               'Sep': 9, 'Oct': 10, 'Nov': 11, 'Dec': 12} 
    month_list = list(solar_dataframe['Month'].map(month_change).fillna(solar_dataframe['Month']))
    return month_list