Severe Weather Alerts API Format

The WxData™ Severe Weather Alerts API provides direct access to real-time active and historical U.S. severe weather alerts beginning June 2018. The API returns all provided severe weather alert type and associated elements or only those that meet your needs.

If you have an existing account using the API Explorer is recommended to build API calls. Additionally, securely passing "key" and "secret" in the http header is supported. Curl example represented below:

curl "https://wxdata.com/cgi-bin/land-alerts-api.pl?version=1.0&format=json&status=active&location=FL" \
-H "key: [provided-apikey]" \
-H "secret: [provided-secretkey]"

In your API call you can filter on these elements:

Location
Severe weather event type (EG Tornado Warning, Flood Warning, ...)
Active or expired (historical)
Date range
Magnitude confidence
Magnitude range

HTTP Methods

API supports GET

Base URL

HTTP: http://wxdata.com/cgi-bin/land-alerts-api.pl

HTTPS: https://wxdata.com/cgi-bin/land-alerts-api.pl

Request Parameters

The following parameters may be used:

Parameter	Description	Required	Values
version	Version control	Required	1.0
format	Return data format	Required	"xml" or "json"
key	User API access key	Required	As provided by WxData™
secret	Secret key (do not share)	Required	As provided by WxData™
status	Switch to locate active or expired alerts	Required	active or expired
location	1) City filter, also requires state, 2) Two character state abbreviation, 3) State abbreviation and county code, 4) State abbreviation and zone code, 5) Nationwide, or 6) Latitude longitude point	Optional	City Filter Example Values: Boston,MA New+York+City,NY State Example Values: AL (ALABAMA) AK (ALASKA) AZ (ARIZONA) AR (ARKANSAS) CA (CALIFORNIA State abbreviation and county code: MA+C015 State abbreviation and zone code: MI+Z049 Nationwide Example value: US Latitude longitude Point: 40.7829N+73.9654W (NYC)
date	Start date range (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS)	Required	Example: date=2011-06-11T16:00:00 (June 6, 2011) Latest: date=0000-00-00T00:00:00 enddate=0000-00-00T00:00:00
enddate	End date range (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS)	Required	Examples: date=2017-06-30T13:00:00 (June 30, 2017) Latest: date=0000-00-00T00:00:00 enddate=0000-00-00T00:00:00
event	Event type (leave blank for all events)	Optional	Severe Weather Tornado+Warning Tornado+Watch Severe+Thunderstorm+Warning Severe+Thunderstorm+Watch Severe+Weather+Statement Flooding Flash+Flood+Warning Flash+Flood+Statement Flash+Flood+Watch Flood+Warning Flood+Watch Flood+Advisory Flood+Statement Lakeshore+Flood+Warning Lakeshore+Flood+Watch Lakeshore+Flood+Advisory Lakeshore+Flood+Statement Winter Alerts Winter+Storm+Warning Winter+Storm+Watch Blizzard+Warning Blizzard+Watch Winter+Weather+Advisory Snow+Squall+Warning Lake+Effect+Snow+Warning Lake+Effect+Snow+Watch Lake+Effect+Snow+Advisory Freeze+Warning Freeze+Watch Freezing+Rain+Advisory Ice+Storm+Warning Avalanche+Warning Avalanche+Watch Non-Precipitation Alerts Frost+Advisory Wind+Chill+Warning Wind+Chill+Watch Wind+Chill+Advisory Extreme+Cold+Warning Hard+Freeze+Warning Hard+Freeze+Watch Excessive+Heat+Warning Excessive+Heat+Watch Heat+Advisory Extreme+Wind+Warning High+Wind+Warning High+Wind+Watch Wind+Advisory Brisk+Wind+Advisory Dense+Fog+Advisory Lake+Wind+Advisory Air+Stagnation+Advisory Air+Quality+Alert Blowing+Dust+Advisory Dust+Storm+Warning Dense+Smoke+Advisory Ashfall+Advisory Fire Weather Alerts Fire+Warning Fire+Weather+Watch Red+Flag+Warning Extreme+Fire+Danger Tropical Alerts Hurricane+Warning Hurricane+Watch Hurricane+Local+Statement Tropical+Storm+Warning Tropical+Storm+Watch Hurricane+Force+Wind+Warning Hurricane+Force+Wind+Watch Storm+Surge+Warning Storm+Surge+Watch Coastal Alerts Tsunami+Warning Tsunami+Watch Coastal+Flood+Warning Coastal+Flood+Watch Coastal+Flood+Advisory Coastal+Flood+Statement Beach+Hazards+Statement High+Surf+Advisory Rip+Current+Statement Civil Emergency Alerts 911+Telephone+Outage 911+Telephone+Outage+Emergency Law+Enforcement+Warning Child+Abduction+Emergency Shelter+in=Place+Warning Civil+Emergency+Message

Return Elements: Information About The Returned Weather Observation Data

Value	Description	Type
id	iAlert record ID	int
status	active or expired alert	text
event	Weather alert type	text
headline	Alert summary headline	text
description	Detail alerts text	text
effective	Weather event start time	YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS
expires	Weather event end time	YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS
areaDesc	County list of locations under alert	text
geo_coordinates	lat/lon if provided	text
geocode	County codes under alert	text
same_code	Specific Area Message Encoding	text
vtec	Valid event time code	text

XML Sample Output

<response xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XML-Schema-instance" version="1.2" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="http://wxdata.com/schema/metar1_2.xsd"> <time_taken_ms>191</time_taken_ms> <errors/> <warnings/> <data num_results="2"> <record> <id>l12345</id> <status>active</status> <event>Heat Advisory</event> <headline Heat Advisory issued July 26 at 4:19AM CDT until July 27 at 7:00PM CDT by NWS </headline> <description>TBD</description> <effective>2017-07-26T04:19:00-05:00</effective> <expires>2017-07-27T19:00:00-05:00</expires> <areaDesc>Ashley; Chicot</areaDesc> <geo_coordinates></geo_coordinates> <geocode>FIPS6</geocode> <same_code>005003 005017</same_code> <vtec>O.NEW.KJAN.HT.Y.0005.170726T1600Z-170728T0000Z/</vtec> </record> </data> </response>

JSON Sample Output

{ "response":{ "data_source": "(active) Land Based Severe Weather Alerts", "version": "2 of 2 records returned", "time_taken_ms":"060", "warning":"", "data":{ "num_results": "2 of 2 records returned", "record":[ { "id":"l2544", "status":"active", "event":"Flash Flood Watch", "headline":"Flash Flood Watch issued June 12 at 1:15PM CDT expiring June 13 at 5:00AM CDT", "description":"The National Weather Service in Paducah has expanded the * Flash Flood Watch to include portions of southern Illinois and southwest Indiana, including the following areas, in southern Illinois, White. In southwest Indiana, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick. * Through late tonight * Very heavy rain over the past few days has saturated the ground in parts of the watch area. Around 10 inches of rain has fallen in Hazleton Indiana. Any additional heavy rainfall would produce renewed flash flooding. * Flood prone and low lying areas will likely become inundated if thunderstorms with torrential rain occur.", "effective":"2018-06-12 13:15:00", "expires":"2018-06-13 05:00:00", "areaDesc":"Posey; Spencer; Warrick; Vanderburgh; White", "geo_coordinates":"", "geocode":"INZ085-INZ088-INZ087-INZ086-ILZ083", "same_code":"018129-018147-018173-018163-017193", "vtec":"/O.EXB.KPAH.FF.A.0003.000000T0000Z-180613T1000Z/" }, { "id":"l2627", "status":"active", "event":"Flash Flood Watch", "headline":"Flash Flood Watch issued June 12 at 2:59PM CDT expiring June 13 at 1:00AM CDT", "description":"The National Weather Service in Lincoln has issued a * Flash Flood Watch for a portion of southeast Illinois, including the following areas, Clay, Crawford, Effingham, Jasper, Lawrence, and Richland. * Until 1 AM CDT Wednesday * Between five to nine inches of rain has fallen over portions of southeast Illinois over the past 48 hours. Another round of a couple inches of rain is possible late this afternoon through tonight. This additional rainfall on the saturated ground may lead to flash flooding. * Flash flooding will be possible in streams and low spots across the watch area.", "effective":"2018-06-12 14:59:00", "expires":"2018-06-12 21:00:00", "areaDesc":"Effingham; Richland; Clay; Jasper; Lawrence; Crawford", "geo_coordinates":"", "geocode":"ILZ066-ILZ072-ILZ071-ILZ067-ILZ073-ILZ068", "same_code":"017049-017159-017025-017079-017101-017033", "vtec":"/O.NEW.KILX.FF.A.0003.180612T2200Z-180613T0600Z/" } ] } } }

Our weather API is currently used worldwide by users to feed their apps, services, and mission with reliable weather data.

If you have any queries, then please contact us. Pricing