End of Service for the Weather Underground API

Re:End of Service for the Weather Underground API by JustSomeNobody on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @01:10PM (#18241145)

Doesn't the National Weather Service (U.S.) have a free API? Is it just not as full featured as WU's was?

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Re:End of Service for the Weather Underground API by CamperBob2 on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @06:24PM (#18244367)

I wouldn't count on NWS surviving the Trump administration, for that matter. There has been a strong push to privatize it going back to the Bush #43 era.

Edit: some suggested homework before downvoting: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-06-14/trump-s-p...

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Re:End of Service for the Weather Underground API by JustSomeNobody on Thursday October 18, 2018 @08:53AM (#18247866)

Ah, yes, the AccuWeather Protection Act. I do recall that.

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Re:End of Service for the Weather Underground API by jacobsheehy on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @01:36PM (#18241414)

They do offer a free API but it is nowhere near as full-featured as WU. They have many tens of thousands fewer weather stations that report current conditions, for example. The variables returned are fewer when it comes to conditions and forecasts. Additionally, depending on your pay tier, WU had all kinds of historical info + specialized weather forecasts that NWS/NOAA does not offer. Even metrics like UV are rarely in NWS API products but could be expected from WU.

WU was also global, while NWS is US-only.

I love the NWS API btw. It's just nowhere near what the WU API was in terms of the promised data returned from API calls. NWS API has always been far superior when it comes to uptime!

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Re:End of Service for the Weather Underground API by reaperducer on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @06:50PM (#18244508)

They do offer a free API but it is nowhere near as full-featured as WU.

While I don't disagree with you that the NWS has thousands fewer weather stations than WU, it should be noted that the NWS has very strict standards for weather sampling and reporting.

NWS weather stations are set up in a particular way to ensure consistent, accurate data. WU, less so.

For example, last week I was in a part of the country where the only weather station for 80 miles was a PWS from WU. According to its data, there is a 40-degree (F) spike in temperature every morning around 7am. Clearly, this is a thermometer that is being affected by the sunrise. This doesn't happen to NWS equipment.

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Re:End of Service for the Weather Underground API by jacobsheehy on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @06:53PM (#18244517)

You are fully correct of course - excellent points!

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