The weather has an intricate relationship with us all. From influencing our mood to plans, weather can make all the difference in determining how the day is about to get. Weather also affects our health by impacting water, air, and food. It influences our safety, such as for traveling or the possibility of destruction of infrastructure during extreme weather.
Such an essential factor in our lives deserves our attention. Thanks to the exceptional technological growth and state-of-the-art satellites, it is possible to accurately monitor, assess and predict weather conditions and phenomena today. But weather data across the globe is scattered in many different databases, and the way to get closer to accurate predictions is to gather maximum data. Weather APIs can be the best source to obtain this information.
What Is A Weather API?
Weather APIs or weather application programs interface the user to connect to powerful and large weather databases across the globe to receive a lot of information. With the help of built-in GPS in smartphones and tablets, it is possible to receive precise hourly updates on the weather in any region. These predictions and data can help create other applications like travel planners, mood or health predictors, music playlist creators, or vacation planners. Here are the top seven choices if you are looking for the best weather APIs to leverage for your solutions.
1. World Weather
One of the oldest weather API, world weather is a trusted source for receiving weather data across the globe for developers and businesses. They offer various API choices curated to cater to specific needs, such as marine or sailing API, ski or mountain API, local weather API, and astronomy API.
The data is available in JSON and XML format for easy assessment. You can also elegantly access historical data of weather patterns through this solution. Over 4 million global cities and towns are covered here, and weather descriptions in multiple languages are available in a simple interface. It is a trusted API by many global organizations that could effectively power your solutions.
2. Open Weather Map
Open weather offers a sophisticated solution with a forecast and current and historical data on the weather in different regions. It is available to sort based on geography, postal zip code, city name, or city id. You can obtain minute-by-minute data or go for hourly, daily, or 30-day climate forecasts. Historical data of over 40 years is also available for instant access.
While basic features such as 3-hour forecasts for 5 days, weather dashboards, and Air pollution index are free, professional subscriptions can access complex data like road risk data and global precipitation maps. The API covers over 200000 cities in HTML, XML, and JSON formats.
3. The AccuWeather
Accu weather is a collection of nine APIs that provide a detailed dive into historical weather data apart from forecasts for locations worldwide and so much more. The comprehensive documentation designed by the company supports developers in using the API in various innovative and creative solutions.
You can explore the free or paid plans that contain 24 hrs historical and current conditions apart from specialized features like indices to provide flight delays, stargazing, or even mosquito activity.
4. The Weather Bit
The Weather bit API requires latitude and longitude to return the weather forecast for the region in a JSON format. The API provides access to Weatherbit.io through 5 robust endpoints that give away the 16-day, 5-day, and 48-hour forecast, current weather, and severe weather alerts.
The API is ideal for lower requests of less than 150/day, where you can avail the benefits of the freemium plan. They offer services to thousands of trustworthy customers impressed by the unparalleled accuracy and amazing speed of response.
5. Weather 2020
Weather 2020 provides forecasts based on latitude, longitude, zip code, and cite or state accurately for up to 12 weeks. It is one of the most popular long-distance forecast APIs serving millions of forecast points daily.
The massive computing power provides accurate prediction and the ability to scale effectively for large-scale applications. The API provides fast results to steer the most innovative applications in the market.
6. StormGlass
Storm glass connects you with data from the world`s most trusted meteorological organizations in one single API. You can access high-resolution forecasts of several regions around the world up to 10 days ahead.
Additional data, such as marine data to predict tides of all oceans and seas tides, are also available here. This intelligent global grid is one of the best weather data sources to power your applications. The straightforward documentation is one of the biggest highlights of this API that makes integrations seamlessly possible.
7. Aeris Weather
Aeris bit delivers localized weather information that is easy to incorporate into third-party applications. The combination of documentation and a developer tool kit makes developing smart apps quick and straightforward.
The specialization of the API is that it provides crucial data like earthquake warnings and storm reports for premium users that can be particularly useful for developers.
Conclusion
Choosing the best weather API depends on the developer and their end goals for usage. Based on the project’s specifics, you can look for APIs that offer a wide range of predictions, including data on versatile topics like earthquakes and fire risks, along with basic weather features to strengthen your end solution.
