Best Free Weather XML APIs and How to Use ThemWeather data remains one of the most useful publicly available datasets for developers, hobbyists, and businesses. While many modern APIs prefer JSON, several providers still offer Weather XML feeds or can return XML on request — convenient for legacy systems, XML pipelines, RSS consumers, or integrations that require strict schemas. This article surveys the best free Weather XML APIs available today, explains their strengths and limits, and gives practical examples for consuming and transforming XML weather data in common programming environments.
What to look for in a free Weather XML API
When choosing an XML weather API, consider:
- Availability of XML output — Some services primarily serve JSON but offer XML as an option; others provide XML-first feeds.
- Coverage & data types — Global vs. regional coverage, and whether the API supplies forecasts, current conditions, historical data, alerts, radar/satellite, or tide/astronomy data.
- Rate limits & quotas — Free tiers often restrict requests per minute or day. Confirm limits and if an API key is required.
- Update frequency & latency — How often data refreshes and how quickly you’ll receive new observations.
- Licensing & terms — Attribution, caching rules, commercial usage restrictions.
- Schema stability & documentation — Well-documented, versioned XML schemas reduce integration friction.
Top free Weather XML APIs
Below are providers that either provide XML directly or can be configured to return XML responses. All listed services have free tiers or openly accessible feeds. Exact free limits and formats can change, so check each provider’s docs for the latest details.
1) National Weather Service (NWS) — United States (XML via METAR/GIS and XML feeds)
- Strengths: Authoritative, free, rich forecasts, watches/warnings, and metadata for the U.S. NWS offers many XML and XML-like feeds (e.g., CAP alerts, ATOM feeds, and XML-based web services).
- Data available: Forecasts, observations, alerts (CAP), radar/station metadata, point forecast XML.
- Typical use cases: U.S.-focused alerting, aviation (METAR/TAF), localized forecasting, civic dashboards.
- Authentication: None for public feeds.
- Notes: Coverage is U.S.-centric; for global usage, combine with other sources.
Example: Fetching a point forecast (XML) for a location:
curl -H "User-Agent: [email protected]" "https://api.weather.gov/points/39.7456,-97.0892" # Follow returned properties.forecast and properties.forecastHourly links to XML/ATOM or JSON endpoints. 2) OpenWeatherMap (XML optional)
- Strengths: Global coverage, familiar, generous free tier for basic use.
- Data available: Current weather, 5-day/3-hour forecast, 16-day forecast (paid), weather maps.
- XML support: API supports XML format by adding &mode=xml to requests.
- Rate limits: Free tier daily/monthly limits; requires API key.
- Notes: Friendly for testing and quick global lookups.
Example: Current weather in XML (city name)
curl "https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?q=London&appid=YOUR_API_KEY&mode=xml" 3) Weatherbit (XML via legacy endpoints / or convert JSON to XML)
- Strengths: Global coverage, clear docs, free tier for development.
- Data available: Current, forecast, historical, air quality.
- XML support: Native XML endpoints are limited; most official responses are JSON — but many developers convert JSON to XML when needed.
- Rate limits: Free tier with daily/hourly limits; API key required.
- Notes: If you need strict XML, plan an on-the-fly JSON→XML conversion layer.
Example (JSON → convert to XML in Node.js or Python): See transformation examples below.
4) Meteostat / NOAA / Other regional services (XML/RSS/ATOM)
- Strengths: Some regional services and climate-focused providers serve XML/RSS/ATOM for observations, historical data, and summaries.
- Use cases: Climate analysis, long-term data ingestion, open-data projects.
- Notes: Best for specialized regional or historical datasets; check licensing per provider.
5) METAR/TAF feeds & Aviation Weather Services (XML-capable)
- Strengths: Aviation-grade weather reports (METAR, TAF), often available in XML (e.g., NOAA Aviation Weather Center offers XML/JSON).
- Use cases: Aviation, marine, precise observation needs.
- Notes: Focused on airports and stations rather than city-level forecasts.
Common tasks: Fetching, parsing, and transforming Weather XML
Below are concise examples showing how to fetch and work with Weather XML in several environments. Replace example endpoints and API keys with your own.
Fetch and parse XML in Python (requests + xml.etree)
import requests import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET url = "https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?q=London&appid=YOUR_API_KEY&mode=xml" r = requests.get(url, timeout=10) r.raise_for_status() root = ET.fromstring(r.text) temperature = root.find('temperature').attrib # e.g. {'value':'285.32','unit':'kelvin'} weather = root.find('weather').attrib # e.g. {'value':'light rain','icon':'10d'} print(temperature, weather) Fetch and parse XML in Node.js (node-fetch + xml2js)
const fetch = require('node-fetch'); const xml2js = require('xml2js'); async function getWeatherXml() { const res = await fetch('https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?q=London&appid=YOUR_API_KEY&mode=xml'); const xml = await res.text(); const parsed = await xml2js.parseStringPromise(xml); console.log(parsed); } getWeatherXml(); Convert JSON response to XML (Python example)
import requests import dicttoxml import json res = requests.get('https://api.weatherbit.io/v2.0/current?city=London&key=YOUR_API_KEY') data = res.json() xml = dicttoxml.dicttoxml(data, attr_type=False) print(xml.decode()) Handling units, timezones, and localisation
- Units: APIs may use metric, imperial, or Kelvin. Convert as needed (e.g., Kelvin → Celsius: T_c = T_k – 273.15).
- Timezones: Many APIs return timestamps in UTC; map to local timezones using tz databases (pytz, zoneinfo, or moment-timezone).
- Localization: Some services return localized weather descriptions — request language parameters if available.
Caching and rate-limit strategies
- Cache responses for the shortest useful interval (observations: 5–15 minutes; forecasts: 10–60 minutes).
- Use ETag/If-Modified-Since headers where supported to reduce bandwidth.
- Respect provider-specific limits and back off on 429 responses; exponential backoff works well.
Schema validation and error handling
- Validate incoming XML against XSD if provider supplies schemas, or at least check for expected elements before accessing attributes.
- Gracefully handle missing nodes, unexpected formats, and HTTP errors.
- Log raw responses for debugging, but avoid storing API keys in logs.
Example project ideas
- Localized weather dashboard that consumes XML feeds and displays them in a web UI.
- XML-to-JSON microservice that standardizes multiple provider feeds into a single schema for downstream apps.
- Alert system that consumes CAP/ATOM XML feeds (NWS) and sends push notifications for severe weather.
Choosing the right combination
- For U.S.-specific, authoritative alerts and observations: use National Weather Service XML/CAP feeds.
- For global coverage with native XML support: OpenWeatherMap (&mode=xml) is convenient.
- For modern developers preferring JSON but needing XML for legacy systems: use JSON-first APIs (Weatherbit, OpenWeatherMap) and convert server-side.
- For aviation or station-level precision: use METAR/TAF and aviation XML feeds.
Final checklist before integration
- Verify free-tier rate limits and obtain API keys if required.
- Confirm XML schema or plan a conversion pipeline.
- Implement caching and exponential backoff.
- Respect licensing and attribution rules.
- Test across edge cases (missing fields, non-200 responses, timezone edge cases).
If you want, I can:
- Generate sample XML schemas for a unified internal format.
- Create a small JSON→XML microservice example (Dockerfile + code).
- Produce a ready-to-run Node.js or Python sample that polls a provider and emits normalized XML.
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