Every endpoint on api.weather.gov, grouped and explained for people who don’t already
speak NWS — what it returns, who wants it, and a worked example you can run.
Built from the live OpenAPI spec (version 3.11.0) on
2026-08-22. New here?
Start with how it thinks.
69 endpoints shown
Start Here
Almost every question that begins with a latitude and longitude starts at one of these. They translate a location into the identifiers the rest of the API speaks.
Give it a latitude and longitude and it tells you everything the API needs to know about that spot: which of the 122 local forecast offices covers it, which square of that office’s forecast grid it falls in, which forecast zone and county it belongs to, and which radar watches it. Nearly every other endpoint wants one of those identifiers, so this is where the chain starts.
Anyone building an app that starts from “where the user is”. If you have coordinates and want a forecast, you call this first.
Worked example
Worked example
https://api.weather.gov/points/39.7456,-97.0892
A spot in Washington County, Kansas. The response points at grid TOP/32,81 — feed that into the gridpoint forecast endpoint next.
The observation stations nearest a given latitude and longitude, closest first. Handy when you want “what is it doing right now near me” rather than a forecast.
App developers who need a current-conditions station for an arbitrary point.
The raw forecast grid behind the readable forecast: dozens of separate variables — temperature, dewpoint, wind speed and direction, sky cover, probability of precipitation, snowfall amount, wave height and more — each as its own time series. Nothing here is written as prose; it is the underlying numbers.
Researchers, hobbyists building custom visualisations, and anyone who wants a variable the plain forecast does not mention.
The familiar day-by-day forecast — “Tonight: Partly cloudy, low around 54” — for one square of a forecast office’s grid. Each square is roughly 2.5 km across. This is generated from the same grid a human forecaster edits, so it is the closest thing to “the official forecast” in machine-readable form.
The single most-used endpoint on the API. Anyone showing a forecast on a website, dashboard or e-ink display.
2 parameters
Name
In
Required
Notes
Feature-Flags
header
no
Enable future and experimental features (see documentation for more info):
* forecast_temperature_qv: Represent temperature as QuantitativeValue
* forecast_wind_speed_qv: Represent wind speed as QuantitativeValue
array
units
query
no
Use US customary or SI (metric) units in textual output
The same forecast broken into hour-by-hour steps rather than day and night periods. Useful when timing matters — when exactly the rain arrives, or how cold it gets at 6am.
Anyone planning around timing: event organisers, cyclists, farmers, schedulers.
2 parameters
Name
In
Required
Notes
Feature-Flags
header
no
Enable future and experimental features (see documentation for more info):
* forecast_temperature_qv: Represent temperature as QuantitativeValue
* forecast_wind_speed_qv: Represent wind speed as QuantitativeValue
array
units
query
no
Use US customary or SI (metric) units in textual output
The zone forecast — the older, coarser style of forecast written for a whole named area rather than a grid square. Zones are how NWS talked about the weather before gridded forecasts, and they are still how many warnings and public statements are scoped.
Broadcasters and anyone who wants the forecast phrased the way it appears in a public statement.
Watches, warnings and advisories. This is the life-safety feed — for real decisions use official channels, but this is where the data lives.
GEThttps://api.weather.gov/alerts
The same alert data, but searchable through time rather than only right now. You can ask for alerts issued during a past window, which makes it the endpoint for “what was warned, and when”.
Researchers studying warning performance; journalists reconstructing an event timeline.
17 parameters
Name
In
Required
Notes
active
query
no
List only active alerts (use /alerts/active endpoints instead)
boolean
start
query
no
Start time
string (date-time)
end
query
no
End time
string (date-time)
status
query
no
Status (actual, exercise, system, test, draft)
array
message_type
query
no
Message type (alert, update, cancel)
array
event
query
no
Event name
array
code
query
no
Event code
array
area
query
no
State/territory code or marine area code
This parameter is incompatible with the following parameters: point, region, region_type, zone
array
point
query
no
Point (latitude,longitude)
This parameter is incompatible with the following parameters: area, region, region_type, zone
region
query
no
Marine region code
This parameter is incompatible with the following parameters: area, point, region_type, zone
array
region_type
query
no
Region type (land or marine)
This parameter is incompatible with the following parameters: area, point, region, zone
one of: land, marine
zone
query
no
Zone ID (forecast or county)
This parameter is incompatible with the following parameters: area, point, region, region_type
array
One specific watch, warning or advisory, fetched by its identifier — the full text, affected area and timing for a single alert.
Anyone following a link from another alert response.
GEThttps://api.weather.gov/alerts/active
Every watch, warning and advisory currently in effect anywhere in the United States, as structured data with the affected area attached. You can filter by point, area, zone, severity, urgency and event type.
Emergency managers, newsrooms, and anyone building a severe weather map or notification service.
12 parameters
Name
In
Required
Notes
status
query
no
Status (actual, exercise, system, test, draft)
array
message_type
query
no
Message type (alert, update, cancel)
array
event
query
no
Event name
array
code
query
no
Event code
array
area
query
no
State/territory code or marine area code
This parameter is incompatible with the following parameters: point, region, region_type, zone
array
point
query
no
Point (latitude,longitude)
This parameter is incompatible with the following parameters: area, region, region_type, zone
region
query
no
Marine region code
This parameter is incompatible with the following parameters: area, point, region_type, zone
array
region_type
query
no
Region type (land or marine)
This parameter is incompatible with the following parameters: area, point, region, zone
one of: land, marine
zone
query
no
Zone ID (forecast or county)
This parameter is incompatible with the following parameters: area, point, region, region_type
array
Just the numbers: how many alerts are active right now, broken down by region, area and zone. A cheap way to check whether anything is happening without pulling every alert.
Dashboards and monitoring systems that poll frequently.
The full list of alert event names NWS can issue — everything from “Tornado Warning” to “Ashfall Advisory”. Useful for building a filter UI without hard-coding a list that goes stale.
What the weather is doing right now, as measured by thousands of ground stations — mostly at airports.
GEThttps://api.weather.gov/stations
The full directory of observation stations: identifier, name, coordinates, elevation and time zone. It is a long list — thousands of entries — so it is paginated.
The most recent observation from one station: temperature, dewpoint, wind, pressure, visibility and present weather. Most of these stations sit at airports and report automatically about once an hour, sometimes more often when conditions change quickly.
Anyone showing “current conditions”. Also pilots, and anyone verifying whether a forecast actually verified.
Data from a wind profiler — a radar that points straight up and measures wind at many heights continuously, filling gaps between twice-daily balloon launches.
Aviation meteorologists and researchers studying the boundary layer.
2 parameters
Name
In
Required
Notes
time
query
no
Time interval
interval
query
no
Averaging interval
GEThttps://api.weather.gov/radar/queues/{host}
The processing queue for a radar host — how much data is backed up waiting to be handled.
Anyone diagnosing radar data lag.
8 parameters
Name
In
Required
Notes
limit
query
no
Record limit
integer
arrived
query
no
Range for arrival time
created
query
no
Range for creation time
published
query
no
Range for publish time
station
query
no
Station identifier
string
type
query
no
Record type
string
feed
query
no
Originating product feed
string
resolution
query
no
Resolution version
integer
GEThttps://api.weather.gov/radar/servers
Health of the servers that collect and distribute radar data. Deeply internal, and interesting precisely because it is normally invisible.
Infrastructure watchers and anyone investigating a radar data outage.
Every radar site NWS operates, with location and station type. This is the NEXRAD network — the roughly 160 big dishes whose data becomes the radar loop you see on TV.
Anyone mapping radar coverage or building a radar site picker.
3 parameters
Name
In
Required
Notes
stationType
query
no
Limit results to a specific station type or types
array
reportingHost
query
no
Show RDA and latency info from specific reporting host
string
Metadata about a Center Weather Service Unit — small teams of NWS meteorologists embedded inside FAA air traffic control centres to advise controllers directly.
Aviation weather nerds and anyone curious how NWS and the FAA actually work together.
Center Weather Advisories — short-fuse warnings issued by those embedded meteorologists when something is about to disrupt air traffic in their centre’s airspace.
Dispatchers and controllers; also useful for explaining a sudden ground stop.
Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts for an airport: a tightly-coded forecast of exactly the things that matter for flying — ceiling, visibility, wind and significant weather — usually covering the next 24 to 30 hours.
Pilots, dispatchers, and anyone who has watched a flight get delayed and wondered why.
One specific airport forecast as issued at a particular time — what the forecast said then, not what it says now.
Anyone auditing what a forecast said at a particular moment.
3 parameters
Name
In
Required
Notes
stationId
path
yes
Observation station ID
string
date
path
yes
Date (YYYY-MM-DD format)
time
path
yes
Time (HHMM format). This time is always specified in UTC (Zulu) time.
Text Products
The raw text bulletins NWS has issued for decades — forecast discussions, administrative messages, statements. Hundreds of product types, all searchable.
GEThttps://api.weather.gov/products
Search recent text products across types, offices and time.
Researchers and anyone monitoring a particular kind of bulletin.
One text product in full, including its raw text exactly as it was transmitted. The text is the real payload — fixed-width, uppercase in places, and unchanged in style for decades.
Anyone who wants to read the actual bulletin rather than a summary of it.
GEThttps://api.weather.gov/products/locations
Every office and centre that issues text products, by identifier.
The catalogue of every text product type NWS issues — over 300 three-letter codes, from AFD (the forecaster’s reasoning) to ADM (administrative messages from the Senior Duty Meteorologist). This is the index to decades of institutional writing.
Anyone exploring what NWS actually publishes beyond the forecast.
Recent products of one type from one office — for example every Area Forecast Discussion from Topeka, or every administrative message from the Senior Duty Meteorologist.
This is the endpoint behind this site’s SDM translator. Also anyone following their local office’s forecast discussion.
The shapes NWS divides the country into: forecast zones, counties, fire weather zones and marine areas.
GEThttps://api.weather.gov/zones
Every zone NWS uses, of every kind. Zones are the areas warnings and public forecasts are written for — and there are several overlapping systems, which is the single most confusing thing about NWS geography.
Mapmakers and developers who need to match a place to an NWS area.
Zones of one kind: forecast zones (public forecasts), county zones (many warnings), fire weather zones (fire danger), or marine zones (coastal and offshore waters). The same ground can belong to a different-shaped area in each system.
Anyone who has wondered why a warning covers a different shape than the forecast.
Which NOAA Weather Radio transmitters serve a given zone.
Emergency managers checking radio coverage.
Worked example
Worked example
https://api.weather.gov/zones/county/MDC013/radio
Only county zones work here. A forecast or fire zone returns 404, and the error names the enumeration it wanted — verified across six states. Both identifiers arrive in the same /points response, under forecastZone and county, so reaching for the wrong one is easy. Note also that the list repeats each transmitter once per area it serves: 128 entries here are two actual stations.
The 122 local Weather Forecast Offices, plus the briefings and graphics they publish.
GEThttps://api.weather.gov/offices/{officeId}
Details about one of the 122 local Weather Forecast Offices: address, phone number, the counties it covers and its parent region. Every forecast in the country is written by one of these offices.
Anyone who wants to know who actually forecasts for their area — and how to reach them.
Worked example
Worked example
https://api.weather.gov/offices/TOP
NWS Topeka, the office covering the example point.
The image file behind a weather story graphic, for embedding the office’s own annotated summary of the day.
Anyone displaying the graphic.
NOAA Weather Radio
The transmitter network that broadcasts weather around the clock on VHF — the one your emergency radio picks up.
GEThttps://api.weather.gov/radio
Every NOAA Weather Radio transmitter: call sign, frequency, location and power. This is the network behind the weather radio that wakes you up at 3am when a tornado warning is issued.
Preparedness sites, radio hobbyists, and emergency managers.
Details for one weather radio transmitter, including which areas it covers.
Anyone checking coverage for a specific community.
Worked example
Worked example
https://api.weather.gov/radio/KEC83
Call signs carry digits — KEC83, WZ2521 — which is worth knowing if you are validating them. The sameCodes list is what an alerting receiver matches on to decide whether a broadcast is for your county.
The area a given NOAA Weather Radio transmitter is broadcasting to, and the zones its broadcast covers.
Radio hobbyists.
Worked example
Worked example
https://api.weather.gov/radio/KEC83/broadcast
Not JSON. This answers in SSML, the speech synthesis markup that drives the synthesised voice on the radio, so what comes back is the broadcast script rather than data about it.
Supporting pieces: weather icons, satellite thumbnails and the official NWS glossary.
GEThttps://api.weather.gov/glossary
The official NWS glossary — hundreds of terms defined by the agency itself. If you want to know exactly what NWS means by “severe thunderstorm” or “virga”, this is the authoritative answer.
Students, writers, and anyone decoding a forecast discussion.
Worked example
Worked example
https://api.weather.gov/glossary
One large response — the whole glossary arrives at once, with no paging and no way to ask for a single term.