2025-05-22: API 2.5 Release Notes

[StephenClouse]

Formal SCN: https://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf_2025/scn25-44_API_latest_changesmay22_2025.pdf

New Features:

• /gridpoints/{wfo}/{x},{y}/forecast/hourly: will now display null values for missing data. This will reduce the number of 503 errors from this endpoint when new forecast grids have not been received.
• /health: added CAP product latency
• /products/types/{typeId}/locations/{locationId}/latest: added new endpoint to return most recently issued text product
• /stations: feature flag obs_station_provider added to display MADIS provider and subProvider data
• /stations/{stationId}/observations: station name is now included in output

Bug Fixes:

• /alerts: now includes missing CAP fields scope, code, language, eventCode and web
• /alerts/types: updated to current hazard map names from https://www.weather.gov/help-map
• /gridpoints/{wfo}/{x},{y}: invalid gridpoints now properly return 404 status instead of 500
• /gridpoints/{wfo}/{x},{y}: JSON properties for gridX and gridY values are now properly returned as integers
• /gridpoints/{wfo}/{x},{y}/forecast/hourly: Fixed invalid DWML/XML output from this endpoint. Any code previously utilizing the DWML output option from this endpoint will need to be adjusted.
• /gridpoints/{wfo}/{x},{y}/stations: properly support limit query parameter
• /stations/{stationId}/observations: XML output no longer returns 500 error if wind direction is null

Behavior Changes:

• /alerts: eventEndingTime parameter now uses local time zone offset instead of UTC
• /gridpoints/{wfo}/{x},{y}/forecast: probabilityOfPrecipitation values less than 20 no longer display null values; a raw maximum value for the 12h period is returned instead

[DougsShack]

I just noticed that the limit parameter is now returning as invalid on the /alerts/active endpoint beginning at some point this afternoon.

Example: https://api.weather.gov/alerts/active?status=actual&region_type=land&limit=500
{ "correlationId": "478d1b12", "parameterErrors": [ { "parameter": "query.limit", "message": "Query parameter \"limit\" is not recognized" } ], "title": "Bad Request", "type": "https://api.weather.gov/problems/BadRequest", "status": 400, "detail": "Bad Request", "instance": "https://api.weather.gov/requests/478d1b12" }

Example: https://api.weather.gov/alerts/active?limit=500
{ "correlationId": "55e81084", "parameterErrors": [ { "parameter": "query.limit", "message": "Query parameter \"limit\" is not recognized" } ], "title": "Bad Request", "type": "https://api.weather.gov/problems/BadRequest", "status": 400, "detail": "Bad Request", "instance": "https://api.weather.gov/requests/55e81084" }

[StephenClouse]

That's been deprecated for a while. It was formally removed in 2.2 in January.

[bcbeta]

I'm really happy about having the MADIS provider so my users will know where the data is coming from.

If you're taking feature requests, I would love to have snowfall and precip data for stations that provide it.

[bcbeta]

How do I active the feature flag?

[scadergit]

There is a basic example on the original documentation (scroll down to Features): https://www.weather.gov/documentation/services-web-api

But basically just add a header named Feature-Flags with the desired flags as the value.

[mgwalker]

Great update, folks! Seriously, there's lots of goodies in here! 😄