Best APIs for Severe Weather Alerts
Weather APIs that surface government and severe-weather alerts for storms, heat, flooding, and other hazards.
Our pick: OpenWeather
OpenWeather is a global weather data platform launched in 2012, offering REST APIs for current conditions, hourly and daily forecasts, historical data, air quality, solar irradiance, and specialized feeds for agriculture, energy, and road risk assessment. It uses a hybrid pricing model with a generous free tier of up to 1 million calls per month, and paid plans starting at $40 per month with self-serve signup and no sales call required. SDKs are available for Python, PHP, Go, and JavaScript, and the platform holds ISO 27001 certification and GDPR compliance. Customers include Google and Samsung.
Best for: Prototypes and side projects - free to start, no sales call; AI agents and automation - an agent-ready surface (MCP / llms.txt); Teams needing broad API coverage out of the box.
Avoid if: You have strict compliance requirements
Best for…
- Best overall
- OpenWeather
- Best free pick
- OpenWeather
- Best for enterprise
- OpenWeather
- Cheapest to start
- Pirate Weather
- Best for agents
- OpenWeather
- Broadest surface
- Xweather (AerisWeather)
Ranked (11)
#1 OpenWeather
69 / 100- Best overall
- Best free pick
- Best for enterprise
- Best for agents
OpenWeather is a global weather data platform launched in 2012, offering REST APIs for current conditions, hourly and daily forecasts, historical data, air quality, solar irradiance, and specialized feeds for agriculture, energy, and road risk assessment. It uses a hybrid pricing model with a generous free tier of up to 1 million calls per month, and paid plans starting at $40 per month with self-serve signup and no sales call required. SDKs are available for Python, PHP, Go, and JavaScript, and the platform holds ISO 27001 certification and GDPR compliance. Customers include Google and Samsung.
PricingHybrid · from $40 month · free tier ✓TrustGDPR · ISO 27001DoesUsed byGoogle, SamsungAvoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements#2 Visual Crossing Weather API
55 / 100Visual Crossing Weather API is a REST-based weather data service covering current conditions, forecasts up to 15 days, and over 50 years of historical records globally, with additional endpoints for air quality, solar and wind energy, maritime conditions, and astronomy data. It targets developers and businesses of all sizes, with self-serve signup, a free tier of 1,000 records per day, and paid plans starting at $35 per month. SDKs are available for 16 languages including Python, JavaScript, Java, Go, and Rust, making integration straightforward across most tech stacks.
PricingHybrid · from $35 month · free tier ✓DoesAvoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements#3 WeatherAPI.com
75 / 100WeatherAPI.com is a REST API providing global weather data for developers and businesses, covering real-time conditions, forecasts, historical records back to 2010, air quality, marine weather, astronomy, pollen, and IP geolocation. Paid plans start at $7 per month with a free tier of 100,000 calls per month (attribution required), and enterprise plans are available with a published SLA. SDKs are offered for eight languages including JavaScript, Python, PHP, Go, and Swift, and an MCP server is available for AI integrations.
PricingSubscription · from $7 month · free tier ✓DoesAvoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements#4 Meteosource
65 / 100Meteosource is a global weather API providing real-time conditions, hourly and daily forecasts, minutely precipitation, historical data going back up to 20 years, air quality, severe weather alerts, and astronomy data for any GPS coordinate or city worldwide. It targets developers with a self-serve subscription starting at $5/month and a free tier of 400 calls per day (with attribution required). SDKs are available for Python, JavaScript, PHP, and C++, and paid plans from the Startup tier upward include a 99.5% uptime SLA with GDPR compliance.
PricingSubscription · from $5 month · free tier ✓TrustGDPRDoesAvoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements#5 Google Weather API (Google Maps Platform)
72 / 100Google Weather API, part of Google Maps Platform, provides current conditions, hourly and daily forecasts, historical weather, and public alerts for locations worldwide via a REST interface. Launched in April 2025 and reaching general availability in June 2025, it is priced at $0.15 per 1,000 calls with a free tier of 10,000 calls per month and self-serve signup. Coverage is global for most countries, though China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria are excluded, and Japan and Korea support alerts only. The API is backed by SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 certifications, GDPR compliance, and a published SLA, with an MCP server available for integration.
PricingUsage · from $0.15 1,000 calls · free tier ✓TrustSOC 2 Type II · GDPR · ISO 27001DoesUsed byL'Oréal#6 Weatherbit
58 / 100Weatherbit is a REST weather API, launched in 2017, covering global current conditions, hourly and daily forecasts, historical data, severe weather alerts, air quality, lightning, and agricultural and energy calculations. Paid plans start at $40 per month with self-serve signup and a published SLA; a free tier is available at 50 calls per day for non-commercial use only and requires attribution. The API uses API key authentication and includes a Python SDK, with rate limits scaling from 25,000 requests per day on Standard up to 2,000,000 on Business.
PricingSubscription · from $40 month · free tier ✓DoesAvoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements#7 Xweather (AerisWeather)
41 / 100- Broadest surface
Xweather (formerly AerisWeather) is a REST weather API covering current conditions, forecasts up to 15 days, historical data back to 2004, severe alerts, lightning analytics, air quality, wildfire, road weather, maritime, and renewable energy data globally, making it a broad-coverage choice for applications from logistics to parametric insurance. Pricing starts at around $300 per month and requires a sales conversation for paid plans, though a no-credit-card 30-day developer trial is available at 1,000 calls per day for non-commercial testing. The platform holds ISO 27001 certification, is GDPR compliant, and offers SDKs for JavaScript, Python, iOS, and Android, as well as an MCP server for AI integrations.
PricingSales-led · free tier ✗TrustGDPR · ISO 27001DoesUsed byKUBRA, Satcom GlobalAvoid ifYou need transparent pricing up front#8 Meteomatics Weather API
38 / 100Meteomatics Weather API, founded in 2012, delivers current conditions, forecasts, historical records, climate scenarios, air quality, and marine data via a REST interface, with query types spanning time series, grids, routes, polygons, and weather alerts at up to 1 km native resolution across Europe and the US. It serves industries including aviation, energy, agriculture, insurance, and defense, with customers such as Tesla, NASA, Airbus, and Shell. Pricing is contract-based with no published rates, though a free non-commercial tier offers 500 queries per day across 15 parameters. SDKs are available in ten languages including Python, Go, and Rust, and an MCP server is supported alongside GDPR compliance and a published SLA.
PricingSales-led · free tier ✓TrustGDPRDoesUsed byTesla, NASA, Airbus, CVS HealthAvoid ifYou need transparent pricing up front#9 Pirate Weather
55 / 100- Cheapest to start
Pirate Weather is an open-source REST API providing current conditions, hourly and daily forecasts, minutely precipitation, severe weather alerts, historical data, and extended data such as fire index, air quality, and solar radiation, with global coverage via NOAA GFS and enhanced regional models for the US, Canada, and Europe. Positioned as a Dark Sky replacement, it is used by Home Assistant, KDE Plasma, and several weather apps. Pricing starts at $2/month with a free tier of 10,000 calls per month, self-serve signup, and no sales call required. Authentication is via API key, a Python SDK is available, and an MCP server is supported.
PricingSubscription · from $2 month · free tier ✓DoesUsed byHome Assistant, MerrySky, Breezy Weather, WeathergraphAvoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements#10 AccuWeather API
43 / 100AccuWeather API is a REST-based weather data service covering over 3.5 million locations worldwide, offering current conditions, hourly and daily forecasts, minute-by-minute precipitation, severe weather alerts, air quality, lightning, tropical cyclone tracking, and more. Pricing starts at $2/month on a subscription model with self-serve signup, a 14-day trial at 500 calls per day, and plans scaling up to enterprise tiers. Notable customers include Caterpillar and SmartNews. Key restrictions include mandatory AccuWeather attribution, a ban on AI/ML training use, and prohibitions on broadcast, connected vehicle, and commercial use at the Starter tier.
PricingSubscription · from $2 month · free tier ✗DoesUsed byCaterpillar, SmartNewsThe catchTrusted brand and forecast quality, but the Starter tier is personal/non-commercial only and the useful data sits behind higher paid tiers.#11 Tomorrow.io Weather API
43 / 100Tomorrow.io Weather API is a REST-based weather data service covering real-time conditions, forecasts up to 14 days, historical data, alerts, route-based weather, air quality, solar irradiance, and risk indices for fire, flood, and lightning, with global coverage. It offers a free tier capped at 500 calls per day, while paid and enterprise plans require a sales conversation and carry undisclosed pricing. SDKs are available for Python and R, webhooks are supported, and an MCP server is available. Customers include Delta Air Lines, Uber, Ford Motor Company, and NASA.
PricingSales-led · free tier ✓DoesUsed byDelta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Uber, Ford Motor CompanyAvoid ifYou need transparent pricing up front