# NWS Active Weather Alerts — Multi-State Exporter (`archive-scout-labs/noaa-weather-alerts-exporter`) Actor

Export current official NWS alerts for multiple U.S. states, territories, or marine areas with severity, urgency, certainty, timing, instructions, CAP metadata, geometry, and source links.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/archive-scout-labs/noaa-weather-alerts-exporter.md
- **Developed by:** [Archive Scout Labs](https://apify.com/archive-scout-labs) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.10 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## NWS Active Weather Alerts — Multi-State Exporter

Export current official U.S. National Weather Service alerts for one or more states, territories, or marine areas in a single run. Filter by event text, severity, urgency, and certainty, then send clean records to a dataset, webhook, spreadsheet, database, or scheduled workflow.

This HTTP-only Apify Actor uses the public National Weather Service Alerts API. It needs no customer login, cookie, proxy, or third-party API subscription.

### Quick start

1. Enter one or more two-letter area codes and optional filters.
2. Keep the result limit small for the first run.
3. Click **Start** and export the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, or HTML.

```json
{
  "areas": ["CA", "OR", "WA"],
  "severity": "Severe",
  "maxItems": 25
}
```

Leave `areas` empty for a nationwide snapshot. The Actor accepts state and territory codes such as `CA`, `TX`, and `PR`, plus NWS marine area codes such as `LM`.

### What each result includes

Each unique alert contains its official identity and source URL, classification, full timing window, affected-area text, zones and geocodes, headline, description, safety instruction, CAP metadata, references, parameters, and geometry when the NWS supplies it.

### Useful workflows

- Multi-state operations and logistics monitoring
- Safety, event, facility, and route-risk dashboards
- Scheduled alert feeds keyed by stable NWS alert ID
- Newsroom, research, insurance, and emergency-management exports

### Reliability and billing design

- Inputs and pagination are bounded to prevent accidental runaway jobs.
- Temporary rate limits and server errors are retried with exponential backoff.
- Unexpected source response shapes fail the run instead of producing a misleading empty success.
- Duplicate source records are removed within a run.
- One NWS request can cover up to 25 area codes, reducing latency and platform cost.
- Each successfully written dataset row is ready for a future pay-per-result event; source errors are never charged as results.
- The runtime stops cleanly when an Apify maximum-charge limit is reached.

### Data source and limitations

Source: https://www.weather.gov/documentation/services-web-alerts

The Actor returns a current snapshot; it does not maintain historical state or decide which alerts are new. For change detection, schedule runs and compare `id`, `sentAt`, and `messageType` downstream. NWS recommends requesting new alerts no more than once every 30 seconds.

This independent community Actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by NOAA or the National Weather Service. It returns public records as supplied by the source and does not independently verify their accuracy. Source coverage, update cadence, field completeness, and rate limits can change. Users remain responsible for interpreting and using the data lawfully. NWS CAP must not be used to activate Emergency Alert System encoder/decoder equipment.

# Actor input Schema

## `areas` (type: `array`):

One or more two-letter state, territory, or marine area codes such as CA, TX, PR, or LM. Leave empty for a nationwide snapshot.

## `eventContains` (type: `string`):

Optional case-insensitive match such as Flood, Heat, Tornado, or Winter Storm.

## `severity` (type: `string`):

Return only alerts with this official NWS severity.

## `urgency` (type: `string`):

Return only alerts with this official NWS urgency.

## `certainty` (type: `string`):

Return only alerts with this official NWS certainty.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum unique matching alerts written to the dataset.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "areas": [
    "CA"
  ],
  "severity": "",
  "urgency": "",
  "certainty": "",
  "maxItems": 25
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Default dataset containing successful source records.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("archive-scout-labs/noaa-weather-alerts-exporter").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("archive-scout-labs/noaa-weather-alerts-exporter").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call archive-scout-labs/noaa-weather-alerts-exporter --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,archive-scout-labs/noaa-weather-alerts-exporter"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/8dxXUB5sUOKjioLSm/builds/PXUpafgDfrap7CEDW/openapi.json