The JSON API

Everything this site decodes is available as structured JSON: live METAR and TAF reports for ~20,000 stations worldwide, parsed token by token. Free, no API key, no login. Data comes from the NOAA Aviation Weather Center feed and is cached server-side for two minutes.

Endpoints

GET /api/metars/{icao}	Current METAR(s) for one station, fully parsed.
GET /api/metars/{icao}/decoded	The same, plus a plain-English decode: summary line and per-element descriptions alongside the parsed structure.
GET /api/metars/live	A sample of the latest METARs from the NOAA cache (20 reports), parsed.
GET /api/tafs/{icao}	Current TAF(s) for one station, parsed into change groups.
GET /api/tafs/{icao}/decoded	TAF with a plain-English decode per forecast group (FM, BECMG, TEMPO, PROB…).
GET /api/tafs/live	A sample of the latest TAFs from the NOAA cache (20 reports), parsed.

Station is the 4-letter ICAO code, case-insensitive. Unknown stations and stations without a current report return 404 with {"error": "..."}.

Try it

curl https://metars.eu/api/metars/EGLL/decoded

What the parsed structure looks like

The parsed object below is generated live by the site's parser from this raw report — it is exactly what the API returns, including the tokens list showing how every piece of the raw text was classified:

METAR EGLL 031320Z 25012G22KT 220V280 9999 -RA SCT018 BKN035 17/12 Q1004 TEMPO 4000 RA

{
  "station" : "EGLL",
  "rawText" : "METAR EGLL 031320Z 25012G22KT 220V280 9999 -RA SCT018 BKN035 17/12 Q1004 TEMPO 4000 RA",
  "wind" : {
    "direction" : 250,
    "speed" : 12,
    "gust" : 22,
    "unit" : "KT"
  },
  "timestamp" : "031320Z",
  "visibility" : {
    "prefix" : "",
    "distance" : 10000.0,
    "unit" : "M",
    "direction" : null,
    "meters" : 10000
  },
  "minimumVisibility" : null,
  "temperature" : {
    "temp" : 17,
    "dewPoint" : 12
  },
  "qnh" : 1004,
  "clouds" : [ {
    "type" : "SCT",
    "height" : 1800,
    "modifier" : ""
  }, {
    "type" : "BKN",
    "height" : 3500,
    "modifier" : ""
  } ],
  "weather" : [ {
    "code" : "-RA",
    "description" : "Light rain"
  }, {
    "code" : "RA",
    "description" : "Rain"
  } ],
  "rvr" : [ ],
  "verticalVisibility" : null,
  "trends" : [ "TEMPO 4000 RA" ],
  "recentWeather" : [ ],
  "isNil" : false,
  "seaCondition" : null,
  "windShear" : [ ],
  "runwayStates" : [ ],
  "remarks" : [ ],
  "tokens" : [ {
    "type" : "IGNORED",
    "text" : "METAR",
    "startIndex" : 0,
    "endIndex" : 5,
    "description" : "Report Type"
  }, {
    "type" : "STATION",
    "text" : "EGLL",
    "startIndex" : 6,
    "endIndex" : 10,
    "description" : "Station Identifier"
  }, {
    "type" : "TIMESTAMP",
    "text" : "031320Z",
    "startIndex" : 11,
    "endIndex" : 18,
    "description" : "Observation Time"
  }, {
    "type" : "WIND",
    "text" : "25012G22KT",
    "startIndex" : 19,
    "endIndex" : 29,
    "description" : "Wind (Dir/Speed/Gusts)"
  }, {
    "type" : "WIND_VARIABLE",
    "text" : "220V280",
    "startIndex" : 30,
    "endIndex" : 37,
    "description" : "Wind Direction Variability"
  }, {
    "type" : "VISIBILITY",
    "text" : "9999",
    "startIndex" : 38,
    "endIndex" : 42,
    "description" : "Visibility (Meters)"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEATHER",
    "text" : "-RA",
    "startIndex" : 43,
    "endIndex" : 46,
    "description" : "Light rain"
  }, {
    "type" : "CLOUD",
    "text" : "SCT018",
    "startIndex" : 47,
    "endIndex" : 53,
    "description" : "Cloud Layer"
  }, {
    "type" : "CLOUD",
    "text" : "BKN035",
    "startIndex" : 54,
    "endIndex" : 60,
    "description" : "Cloud Layer"
  }, {
    "type" : "TEMPERATURE",
    "text" : "17/12",
    "startIndex" : 61,
    "endIndex" : 66,
    "description" : "Temp / Dewpoint"
  }, {
    "type" : "QNH",
    "text" : "Q1004",
    "startIndex" : 67,
    "endIndex" : 72,
    "description" : "Altimeter Setting"
  }, {
    "type" : "TREND_INDICATOR",
    "text" : "TEMPO",
    "startIndex" : 73,
    "endIndex" : 78,
    "description" : "Trend Indicator"
  }, {
    "type" : "TREND",
    "text" : "4000",
    "startIndex" : 79,
    "endIndex" : 83,
    "description" : "Trend Content"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEATHER",
    "text" : "RA",
    "startIndex" : 84,
    "endIndex" : 86,
    "description" : "Rain"
  } ]
}

Terms, in plain English

Free for reasonable use — apps, sim tooling, club sites, student projects. No key, no signup.
CORS is open for GET requests, so you can call the API directly from browser code.
Upstream data is fetched from NOAA once per two minutes regardless of your request rate, so polling faster than that only returns the same cache.
Not for operational flight use. Reports can be delayed, missing or malformed; the parser flags what it cannot resolve rather than guessing.
A link back to metars.eu is appreciated, not required. If you want a ready-made embed, there is a free widget.

Building something with it? Feedback on the response format is welcome — especially reports that decode wrong. New to METARs themselves? Start with how to read a METAR.