Avalanche Org Forecast Scraper

Scrapes structured avalanche forecasts from the official US avalanche center aggregator API (avalanche.org). Returns danger ratings, avalanche problem breakdowns, hazard discussions, and expiry times for all ~80 forecast zones across ~30 US avalanche centers — no authentication required.

What it does

Walks the avalanche.org public v2 API in two phases:

1. Fetches all forecast zones from the /products/map-layer GeoJSON endpoint (~82 zones across ~30 US avalanche centers)
2. Fetches the current forecast product for each zone — danger ratings by elevation band (lower/middle/upper), avalanche problem types, author, publish/expire times, and advisory text

All data is sourced from the official avalanche.org aggregator, which consolidates forecasts from the American Avalanche Association member centers (CAIC, NWAC, UAC, BTAC, and others).

Input

Field	Type	Description
maxItems	integer	Maximum number of forecast records to return (default: 10)
centerIds	string	Comma-separated center IDs to filter, e.g. CAIC,NWAC,UAC (leave empty for all centers)
activeOnly	boolean	When true, skip zones marked as off-season (default: false)

Example input

{
  "maxItems": 50,
  "centerIds": "CAIC,NWAC",
  "activeOnly": true
}

Output

Each output record represents one forecast zone:

Field	Type	Description
center_id	string	Avalanche center code (e.g. CAIC, NWAC, UAC)
center_name	string	Full center name (e.g. Colorado Avalanche Information Center)
center_link	string	Center website URL
state	string	US state abbreviation
zone_id	string	Numeric zone ID
zone_name	string	Zone name (e.g. Front Range, East Slopes North)
product_type	string	forecast, summary, warning, watch, or special
published_time	string	ISO 8601 timestamp when the forecast was published
expires_time	string	ISO 8601 timestamp when the forecast expires
author	string	Forecaster name
danger_rating	string	JSON object with current and tomorrow danger by elevation band (lower/middle/upper), integers 1–5 with labels (Low/Moderate/Considerable/High/Extreme)
bottom_line	string	Plain-text summary of the forecast
hazard_discussion	string	Plain-text detailed hazard analysis
problems	string	JSON array of avalanche problem objects (type, likelihood, size, aspects, discussion)
off_season	boolean	Whether this zone is in its off-season period

Example output

{
  "center_id": "CAIC",
  "center_name": "Colorado Avalanche Information Center",
  "center_link": "https://avalanche.state.co.us/",
  "state": "CO",
  "zone_id": "2755",
  "zone_name": "Front Range",
  "product_type": "forecast",
  "published_time": "2026-05-22T22:30:00+00:00",
  "expires_time": "2026-05-23T22:30:00+00:00",
  "author": "Jeff Davis",
  "danger_rating": "{\"current\":{\"lower\":1,\"middle\":1,\"upper\":1,\"lower_label\":\"Low\",\"middle_label\":\"Low\",\"upper_label\":\"Low\"},\"tomorrow\":null}",
  "bottom_line": "You may be able to trigger small avalanches in wet surface snow on Saturday and Sunday as temperatures warm.",
  "hazard_discussion": null,
  "problems": "[]",
  "off_season": false
}

Use cases

• Backcountry safety applications — integrate current danger ratings into trip-planning tools
• Weather and outdoor media — embed daily avalanche forecasts with zone-level granularity
• Research and analysis — build season-over-season danger rating datasets
• Alert systems — monitor for High/Extreme danger ratings and trigger notifications
• Insurance and guiding operations — daily automated safety briefing feeds

Notes

• Forecasts are updated daily during the winter season (~November through April, varies by center)
• Off-season zones return spring statements rather than numeric danger ratings
• The danger_rating and problems fields are JSON strings — parse them in your downstream pipeline
• No API key required; the avalanche.org v2 API is fully public

Center ID reference

Common center IDs: CAIC (Colorado), NWAC (Northwest/WA/OR), UAC (Utah), BTAC (Bridger-Teton/WY), GNFAC (Gallatin/MT), FAC (Flathead/MT), ESAC (Eastern Sierra/CA), MWAC (Mount Washington/NH), SNFAC (Sawtooth/ID), PAC (Payette/ID), SAC (Sierra/CA), IPAC (Idaho Panhandle), TAC (Taos/NM), CNFAIC (Chugach/AK), WCMAC (West Central Montana)