# NWS US Weather Alerts Scraper (`compute-edge/nws-alerts-scraper`) Actor Extract active US National Weather Service (NWS) weather alerts including warnings, watches, advisories. Filter by state, severity, urgency, event type. Real-time data from api.weather.gov, no auth required. - **URL**: https://apify.com/compute-edge/nws-alerts-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Compute Edge](https://apify.com/compute-edge) (community) - **Categories:** Lead generation - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $3.00 / 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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 US Weather Alerts Scraper Extract **active US National Weather Service (NWS) weather alerts** including tornado warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings, flash flood warnings, winter storm watches, heat advisories, and dozens of other public-safety alert types. Data is pulled live from the official US government feed at `api.weather.gov/alerts/active` and updated continuously — typically within seconds of being issued by a regional NWS forecast office. This Actor wraps the NWS public alerts API into a clean, filterable scraper that returns one record per active alert with all the fields you need to triage, route, or visualize: the event type, severity (Extreme/Severe/Moderate/Minor), urgency (Immediate/Expected/Future), affected counties and states, effective and expiration timestamps, full headline and description text, and the issuing NWS office. ### Features - **Real-time active alerts** — Pulls the live feed of every currently-active NWS public alert across the United States. - **State filtering** — Pass an array of two-letter state codes (e.g. `['TX','OK','KS']`) to narrow the scrape. - **Severity / urgency filtering** — Focus on Extreme + Immediate alerts only, or pull the full firehose. - **Event-type filtering** — Partial match on event type (e.g. `'Tornado'` matches Tornado Warning + Tornado Watch). - **Rich payload** — Includes affected zone IDs, polygon geometry where available, and free-text instruction fields useful for downstream NLP / RAG pipelines. ### Output fields | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `id` | string | NWS unique alert ID (URN) | | `event` | string | Event type (e.g. "Tornado Warning") | | `severity` | string | Extreme / Severe / Moderate / Minor / Unknown | | `urgency` | string | Immediate / Expected / Future / Past / Unknown | | `certainty` | string | Observed / Likely / Possible / Unlikely / Unknown | | `areaDesc` | string | Human-readable affected area description | | `states` | array | List of state codes extracted from `areaDesc` | | `affectedZones` | array | NWS forecast zone IDs | | `effective` | datetime | When the alert takes effect | | `expires` | datetime | When the alert expires | | `headline` | string | Short alert headline | | `description` | string | Full alert text | | `instruction` | string | Public safety instructions | | `senderName` | string | Issuing NWS forecast office | | `geometry` | object | GeoJSON polygon (when available) | ### How to scrape NWS weather alerts 1. Click **Run** with empty input to pull every currently-active US weather alert (typically 200–800 records). 2. To narrow scope, set the `states` input to `['TX','OK']` for Texas + Oklahoma only. 3. To get only the most urgent alerts, set `severity` to `Extreme` and `urgency` to `Immediate`. 4. Use `eventFilter` (e.g. `Tornado` or `Flood`) for event-type filtering. ### Pricing Pay-per-result: **$0.003/result**. A typical full-US empty-input scrape returns 300–600 alerts. Apify compute is charged separately at platform rates. ### Use cases - Build a real-time public safety dashboard scoped to specific states or event types - Feed alerts into an LLM/RAG pipeline for natural-language risk summaries - Trigger downstream automations (insurance claims pre-staging, logistics rerouting) on Severe/Extreme alerts - Backfill a weather-impact dataset alongside scheduled scrapes ### FAQ **Is this real-time?** Yes — `api.weather.gov` updates continuously. Each Actor run pulls a fresh snapshot. **Do I need an API key?** No. NWS provides this data without authentication. **Does it cover Puerto Rico / territories?** Yes, US territories with NWS coverage are included. ### Legal This Actor uses publicly available data from the US National Weather Service, a federal agency that publishes weather data into the public domain. No authentication is bypassed and no rate limits are violated. Use of this Actor is for legitimate public-safety, research, or commercial purposes only. Contact support via the Apify Console with any issues. # Actor input Schema ## `states` (type: `array`): Filter alerts by US state codes (e.g. ['TX','CA','FL']). Leave empty for all states. ## `severity` (type: `string`): Filter by severity. Allowed: Extreme, Severe, Moderate, Minor, Unknown. Leave empty for all. ## `urgency` (type: `string`): Filter by urgency. Allowed: Immediate, Expected, Future, Past, Unknown. Leave empty for all. ## `eventFilter` (type: `string`): Case-insensitive partial match on event type (e.g. 'Tornado', 'Flood', 'Thunderstorm'). ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of alerts to return. 0 = unlimited. ## Actor input object example ```json { "states": [], "severity": "", "urgency": "", "eventFilter": "", "maxResults": 1000 } ```` # Actor output Schema ## `dataset` (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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = {}; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("compute-edge/nws-alerts-scraper").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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = {} # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("compute-edge/nws-alerts-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).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 compute-edge/nws-alerts-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=compute-edge/nws-alerts-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "NWS US Weather Alerts Scraper", "description": "Extract active US National Weather Service (NWS) weather alerts including warnings, watches, advisories. Filter by state, severity, urgency, event type. Real-time data from api.weather.gov, no auth required.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "k6IJS81S1QaNx8NAW" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/compute-edge~nws-alerts-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-compute-edge-nws-alerts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/compute-edge~nws-alerts-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-compute-edge-nws-alerts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/compute-edge~nws-alerts-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-compute-edge-nws-alerts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "states": { "title": "States", "type": "array", "description": "Filter alerts by US state codes (e.g. ['TX','CA','FL']). Leave empty for all states.", "default": [], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "severity": { "title": "Severity", "type": "string", "description": "Filter by severity. Allowed: Extreme, Severe, Moderate, Minor, Unknown. Leave empty for all.", "default": "" }, "urgency": { "title": "Urgency", "type": "string", "description": "Filter by urgency. Allowed: Immediate, Expected, Future, Past, Unknown. Leave empty for all.", "default": "" }, "eventFilter": { "title": "Event Type Filter", "type": "string", "description": "Case-insensitive partial match on event type (e.g. 'Tornado', 'Flood', 'Thunderstorm').", "default": "" }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Results", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 50000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of alerts to return. 0 = unlimited.", "default": 1000 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```