DWD.de NWP ICON datasets downloader

A script to download DWD NWP ICON datasets.

• Website https://www.dwd.de/EN/ourservices/nwp_forecast_data/nwp_forecast_data.html
• Data sources https://opendata.dwd.de/weather/nwp/

See config.yaml for an example configuration.

CLI

Run with dwd-downloader [--config ./config.yaml] [--date 20251008]

By default it will try to incrementally download the most recent datasets available.

API

from .api import dwd_downloader

dwd_downloader()

# dwd_downloader("./config.yaml")
# dwd_downloader("./config.yaml", "20251008")

Environment variables

• Use CONFIG_PATH to specify the config yaml location.
• Use LOG_LEVEL to tune the logging level

config.yaml can use env variables replacements

To configure S3 based storage you can provide the following (with AWS_* or S3_* prefix)

STORAGE_TYPE=s3
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="minio"
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="minio123"
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="us-east-1"
AWS_ENDPOINT_URL=http://localhost:19000
AWS_BUCKET=local-data

Variables

🌞 Radiation and Energy Fluxes

• alb_rad – Surface albedo
• asob_s – Net shortwave radiation at surface (all-sky)
• asob_s_cs – Net shortwave radiation at surface (clear-sky)
• asob_t – Net shortwave radiation at top of atmosphere
• aswdifd_s – Diffuse downward shortwave radiation at surface
• aswdifu_s – Diffuse upward shortwave radiation at surface
• aswdir_s – Direct shortwave radiation at surface
• athb_s – Net longwave radiation at surface (all-sky)
• athb_t – Net longwave radiation at top of atmosphere
• alhfl_s – Latent heat flux at surface
• ashfl_s – Sensible heat flux at surface
• apab_s – Absorbed shortwave flux at surface

☁️ Cloud and Precipitation

• clc – Cloud cover (3D field)
• clch – High cloud cover
• clcm – Medium cloud cover
• clcl – Low cloud cover
• clct – Total cloud cover
• clct_mod – Model-diagnostic total cloud cover
• cldepth – Cloud depth
• htop_con – Convective cloud top height
• hbas_con – Convective cloud base height
• htop_dc – Top of deep convection
• ceiling – Cloud base (ceiling) height
• hzerocl – Height of the 0°C isotherm (freezing level)
• rain_con – Convective rain rate
• rain_gsp – Large-scale (stratiform) rain rate
• snow_con – Convective snow rate
• snow_gsp – Stratiform snow rate
• tot_prec – Total precipitation (rain + snow)
• snowlmt – Snow line altitude
• rho_snow – Density of snow
• h_snow – Snow depth
• w_snow – Water equivalent of snow

🌬️ Dynamics (Wind, Motion, Pressure)

• u – Zonal wind component
• v – Meridional wind component
• u_10m – 10-meter zonal wind
• v_10m – 10-meter meridional wind
• vmax_10m – Maximum 10-meter wind gust
• w – Vertical velocity
• omega – Vertical velocity in pressure coordinates
• tke – Turbulent kinetic energy
• p – Pressure (3D field)
• ps – Surface pressure
• pmsl – Mean sea level pressure

🌡️ Temperature and Humidity

• t – Air temperature (3D field)
• t_2m – 2-meter air temperature
• tmax_2m – Maximum 2-meter temperature
• tmin_2m – Minimum 2-meter temperature
• td_2m – 2-meter dew point temperature
• t_g – Ground (skin) temperature
• t_snow – Snow temperature
• t_ice – Ice temperature
• t_so – Soil temperature (by layer)
• qv – Specific humidity (3D field)
• qv_2m – 2-meter specific humidity
• relhum – Relative humidity (3D field)
• relhum_2m – 2-meter relative humidity

🌍 Surface and Soil

• hsurf – Surface altitude (orography)
• z0 – Surface roughness length
• soiltyp – Soil type (categorical)
• lai – Leaf area index
• rootdp – Root depth
• w_so – Soil water content
• w_so_ice – Frozen soil water content
• runoff_s – Surface runoff
• runoff_g – Groundwater runoff

❄️ Ice, Lakes, and Land Fractions

• fr_land – Fraction of land in grid cell
• fr_lake – Fraction of lake in grid cell
• depth_lk – Lake depth
• h_ice – Ice thickness

⚡ Convection and Stability

• cape_ml – Convective available potential energy (mixed layer)
• cape_con – CAPE for convective updrafts
• cin_ml – Convective inhibition (mixed layer)
• lpi_con_max – Lightning potential index
• tch – Temperature at convective cloud top
• tcm – Temperature at convective cloud middle
• mh – Height of mixed layer

🌫️ Optical and Remote Sensing

• vis – Visibility
• synmsg_bt_cl_ir10.8 – Synthetic brightness temperature (IR 10.8 µm)
• synmsg_bt_cl_wv6.2 – Synthetic brightness temperature (WV 6.2 µm)

💧 Moisture and Condensate (3D and Integrated)

• qc – Cloud water content
• qi – Cloud ice content
• qr – Rain water content
• qs – Snow content
• qv_s – Specific humidity at surface
• tqc – Total column cloud water
• tqi – Total column cloud ice
• tqr – Total column rain water
• tqs – Total column snow
• tqv – Total column water vapor

📈 Geometry and Coordinates

• rlat – Rotated latitude coordinate
• rlon – Rotated longitude coordinate
• hhl – Height of model half levels (vertical grid)
• fi – Geopotential
• plcov – Plant cover fraction