API Request – Weather Station & MOS Data

Station Observations: Weather Station Identifiers | Find Station | Behavior on missing or invalid data | Example queries |
Stations across an area
MOS Forecasts: Find MOS Station | Available MOS weather parameters | Example MOS queries

Station Observations

The Meteomatics Weather API provides a wide selection of weather station data around the globe.
In order to query data from weather stations, the source has to be set to mix-obs.

api.meteomatics.com/validdatetime/parameters/station_id/format?source=mix-obs&optionals

Weather Station Identifiers

There are several possibilities to specify the desired station_id. Either coordinates or specific WMO, METAR, AMDA or CH station codes can be used. Additionally, it is possible to query the station data by using a unique ID generated by Meteomatics. If you choose coordinates, the data from the nearest station is retrieved. You can also combine multiple stations from the same or different origin with each other using the + sign. Some station query examples can be found below in the Example queries section.

Identifier	Description	Example
WMO ID	`wmo_<wmo_id>`	`wmo_066810` is St. Gallen
METAR ID	`metar_<metar_id>`	`metar_LSZH` is Zurich Airport
AMDA ID	`amda_<amda_id>`	`amda_P100` is Kahl/Main
MCH ID	`mch_<mch_id>`	`mch_LUG` is Lugano
MM unique ID	`<mmuid>`	`1463524709` is Zurich Airport

Find Station

It is possible to get a list of available weather stations from which you can select the desired station identifiers. Several conditions can be specified in order to filter the list of stations. The output is a sorted list of stations matching the specified conditions. The output format is CSV.

api.meteomatics.com/find_station?<conditions>

Available conditions:

Identifier	Description	Example
`location`	Coordinates: `location=<lat>,<lon>`, or bounding box `location=<lat_max>,<lon_min>_<lat_min>,<lon_max>`	`location=47.3,9.3`, `location=47.3,9.3_40,10`, `location=germany`
`elevation`	in meters ASL: `elevation=<elevation>`	`elevation=2500`
`parameters`	`parameters=<comma separated parameter list>`	`parameters=t_2m:C,wind_speed_10m:ms`
`startdate`	the earliest time you are interested in: `startdate=<iso timestamp>`	`startdate=2017-10-01T00Z`
`enddate`	the latest time you are interested in: `enddate=<iso timestamp>`	`enddate=2017-11-01T00Z`

Examples

Query for all stations on the globe no matter which parameters are measured:
https://api.meteomatics.com/find_station
Query for all stations in Germany that measure precipitation at a height of approximately 300 m above sea level. The vertical offset from the selected height is given in a separate column Vertical Distance in the output:
https://api.meteomatics.com/find_station?location=germany&parameters=precip_1h:mm&elevation=300
Find a station for a coordinate that measures temperature at least since Jan 1^st, 2018. The horizontal offset from the selected coordinate is given in meter in a separate column Horizontal Distance in the output:
https://api.meteomatics.com/find_station?location=50.705502,10.467007&parameters=t_2m:C&startdate=2018-01-01T00:00:00Z

Response example:

Station Category;Station Type;ID Hash;WMO ID;Alternative IDs;Name;Location Lat,Lon;Elevation;Start Date;End Date;Horizontal Distance;Vertical Distance;Effective Distance
SYNOP;SYNO;15890694;;WIT;Wittnau;47.4804,7.96853;463m;2018-05-09T06:30:00Z;2021-01-27T07:20:00Z;-999;-999;-999
SYNOP;SYNO;20701173;;VSBAS;Baltschiedertal;46.3423,7.87933;1318m;2018-05-09T06:30:00Z;2021-01-27T07:20:00Z;-999;-999;-999
SYNOP;SYNO;21270887;;SUA;Schaan / Untere Au;47.187,9.49068;444m;2018-05-09T06:30:00Z;2021-01-27T07:20:00Z;-999;-999;-999
SYNOP;SYNO;28461974;;COM;Acquarossa/Comprovasco;46.4594,8.93565;575m;2017-02-28T23:00:00Z;2021-01-27T07:20:00Z;-999;-999;-999
SYNOP;SYNO;30633461;;ABG;L'Abergement;67.0104,19.1171;647m;2017-12-03T06:00:00Z;2021-01-26T06:00:00Z;-999;-999;-999
SYNOP;SYNO;45286347;;KUB;Küblis;69.0449,20.1069;839m;2017-12-03T06:00:00Z;2021-01-26T06:00:00Z;-999;-999;-999
SYNOP;SYNO;75006491;;TEU;Teufen, AR;68.7279,21.124;834m;2017-12-03T06:00:00Z;2021-01-26T06:00:00Z;-999;-999;-999
SYNOP;SYNO;77175386;;ZWE;Zweisimmen;46.5506,7.38479;1015m;2018-05-09T06:30:00Z;2021-01-27T07:20:00Z;-999;-999;-999
    ...

Behavior on missing or invalid data

It is possible to specify the treatment of missing station values. Therefore, the option on_invalid has to be added to the query.

Identifier	Description
`fail`	Send an error message as soon as data is missing (default)
`fill_with_invalid`	Replace invalid and missing data by -999.

Example

https://api.meteomatics.com/__replace__0T00Z--__replace__2T00Z:PT1H/t_2m:C/47.43,9.4/csv?source=mix-obs&on_invalid=fill_with_invalid

Example queries

Query for the station observations for Bern via WMO ID:
http://api.meteomatics.com/yesterday_replaceT00Z--today_replaceT00Z:PT1H/t_2m:C,wind_speed_10m:ms/wmo_066700/html?source=mix-obs&on_invalid=fill_with_invalid
Query for the station observations for Zurich airport via METAR ID:
http://api.meteomatics.com/yesterday_replaceT00Z--today_replaceT00Z:PT1H/t_2m:C,wind_speed_10m:ms/metar_LSZH/html?source=mix-obs&on_invalid=fill_with_invalid
By using the + sign you can combine both stations into one query with csv as output format:
http://api.meteomatics.com/yesterday_replaceT00Z--today_replaceT00Z:PT1H/t_2m:C,wind_speed_10m:ms/metar_LSZH+wmo_066700/csv?source=mix-obs&on_invalid=fill_with_invalid

Stations across an area

By using a GetFeature-Request, it is possible to query station data within a specified bounding box. The request is constructed as follows:

https://api.meteomatics.com/wfs?SERVICE=WFS&VERSION=1.0.0&REQUEST=GetFeature&TYPENAME=<feature_type>&TIME=<validdatetime>&BBOX=<min_lon,min_lat,max_lon,max_lat>&PARAMETERS=<parameters>

Currently there are two available station feature types: stations_mix-obs, which contains most of our combined observational data, and stations_mm-mos for our MOS forecast.

Parameter	Description	Example
`TIME`	A single point in time (UTC) as specified in the section Date/Time Description. `TIME` always refers to validdatetime. The response depends on the feature type, see the examples below.	`TIME=2018-04-12T12:45Z`
`BBOX`	A bounding box specified by maximal and minimal latitude and longitude formatted according to `BBOX=<min_lon,min_lat,max_lon,max_lat>` (please note the order). The response will only contain features that are located within this area. If left unspecified, all available features will be returned.	`BBOX=5.8,47.9,10.7,45.7`
`PARAMETERS`	The parameters that you wish to query formatted as a comma-separated list as specified here. The DescribeFeatureType contains all the relevant parameters provided by the station type. For technical reasons the name of the XML node will have the colons (`:`) replaced with an underscore (`_`), e.g. `t_2m:C` will end up as `t_2m_C`. For WFS purposes only you may also use this format in the queries.	`t_2m:C,dew_point_2m:C` or `t_2m_C,dew_point_2m_C`

The response will be XML. More details on GetFeature-Requests can be found here.

Example

Query for station measurements of 2m temperature on April 12th 2018, at 13:00 UTC inside a bounding box around Switzerland:
https://api.meteomatics.com/wfs?SERVICE=WFS&VERSION=1.0.0&REQUEST=GetFeature&TYPENAME=stations_mix-obs&TIME=2018-04-12T13:00Z&BBOX=5.77,45.74,10.65,47.89&PARAMETERS=t_2m:C

MOS Forecasts

Model Output Statistics (MOS) is a statistical procedure in modern weather forecasting that uses multiple linear regression where predictants, such as air temperature and wind speed, are statistically linked to predictors. These predictors are forecasts from numerical weather prediction models and recent station observations. The MOS forecasts are updated each 30 minutes and have a lead time of 15 days with a temporal resolution of 1 hour.
In order to query MOS forecast data, the source has to be set to mm-mos.

api.meteomatics.com/validdatetime/parameters/station_id/format?source=mm-mos&optionals

The station_id can be specified in the same way as for observational data (Station identifiers).

Find MOS Station

It is possible to get a list of available weather stations for which MOS forecasts are computed. Additional conditions can be specified in the same way as for observational data (Conditions). The output format is CSV.

api.meteomatics.com/find_station?<conditions>&source=mm-mos