# NWS Weather Alerts Fetcher (`brunofin/nws-weather-alerts-fetcher`) Actor

Fetches active weather alerts (watches, warnings, advisories) from the official U.S. National Weather Service (NOAA) for a geographic zone, county AREA, or lat/lon coordinates — no API key required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/brunofin/nws-weather-alerts-fetcher.md
- **Developed by:** [Bruno Finger](https://apify.com/brunofin) (community)
- **Categories:** News
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## NWS Weather Alerts Fetcher

Fetches **active weather alerts** (watches, warnings, and advisories) from the official U.S. National Weather Service (NOAA) for any NWS forecast zone, county AREA, or lat/lon coordinates — completely **no API key required**.

Sourced from the [National Weather Service API](https://www.weather.gov/documentation/services-web-api) (`api.weather.gov`).

### Input

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `locations` | array\[string] | yes | — | List of NWS forecast-zone codes (e.g. `"NCZ051"`), AREA/county codes (e.g. `"NCC183"`), or lat/lon pairs (e.g. `"35.779,-78.638"`). For coordinates, the forecast zone is resolved automatically via the NWS `/points` endpoint. Maximum 100. |
| `includeSummary` | boolean | no | `true` | If true, also emit one summary record per location listing all alerts found. |
| `timeoutSeconds` | integer | no | `30` | HTTP timeout per NWS API request (1–120). |

#### Input examples

Zone code:

```json
{
  "locations": ["NCZ051"],
  "includeSummary": true
}
```

Lat/lon coordinates (auto-resolves zone):

```json
{
  "locations": ["35.779,-78.638"],
  "includeSummary": true
}
```

AREA / county code:

```json
{
  "locations": ["NCC183", "NCZ051"],
  "timeoutSeconds": 45
}
```

### Output

One dataset item per alert (fields: `type`, `severity`, `urgency`, `certainty`, `areas`, `description`, `instruction`, `onset`, `expires`, `sent`, `status`, `headline`, `link`) plus a summary item per location (`queryType`, `queryValue`, `zone`, `title`, `updated`, `alertCount`, `alerts`, `resolvedLocation`). Failed lookups emit an item with an `error` field.

The `overview` dataset view shows `queryType`, `queryValue`, `zone`, `title`, `updated`, `alertCount`, and `error`.

### Usage

```bash
cd nws-weather-alerts-fetcher
python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt
echo '{"locations": ["NCZ051"], "includeSummary": true}' > INPUT.json
.venv/bin/python src/main.py
```

Or with the Apify CLI:

```bash
apify run --input-file INPUT.json
```

### Pricing

PAY\_PER\_EVENT — $0.001 per `alerts-fetched` event (one zone/query).

### Notes

- The NWS API is **keyless** (no registration needed for the alerts endpoint).
- Zone codes: forecast zones look like `NCZ041`, `TXC491`, `MAC025`. AREA (county) codes look like `NCC183`.
- Lat/lon coordinates are automatically resolved to a forecast zone via the `/points` endpoint.
- An empty `features` array means no active alerts (a valid result — not an error).
- Rate limits: NWS requests a User-Agent with contact info and recommends no more than 1 requests/second.
- The `/points` endpoint returns 404 for some international or off-shore coordinates; ensure coordinates are within the U.S.

### Related actors

- [Open-Meteo Weather](https://apify.com/brunofin/open-meteo-weather) — general weather forecasts (Open-Meteo API)
- [Aviation Weather METAR/TAF](https://apify.com) — aviation observations and forecasts (NOAA Aviation Weather Center)

# Actor input Schema

## `locations` (type: `array`):

List of NWS forecast-zone codes (e.g. "NCZ051") or AREA identifiers (e.g. "NCC183") or lat/lon pairs as "lat,lon" (e.g. "35.779,-78.638"). For lat/lon, the actor resolves the forecast zone automatically via the NWS /points endpoint. Maximum 100 entries.

## `includeSummary` (type: `boolean`):

If true, also emit one summary record per location summarizing all alerts found.

## `timeoutSeconds` (type: `integer`):

HTTP timeout per NWS API request.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "locations": [
    "NCZ051",
    "35.779,-78.638"
  ],
  "includeSummary": true,
  "timeoutSeconds": 30
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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 = {
    "locations": [
        "NCZ051",
        "35.779,-78.638"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("brunofin/nws-weather-alerts-fetcher").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 = { "locations": [
        "NCZ051",
        "35.779,-78.638",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("brunofin/nws-weather-alerts-fetcher").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 '{
  "locations": [
    "NCZ051",
    "35.779,-78.638"
  ]
}' |
apify call brunofin/nws-weather-alerts-fetcher --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,brunofin/nws-weather-alerts-fetcher"
        }
    }
}

```

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/qS9zajWSV3fep8oQ6/builds/8ckga3RDilO8tr4gY/openapi.json