# Space Weather Alerts: Aurora & Radio Blackout (`m_ctim/space-weather-alert`) Actor Current geomagnetic Kp index, GOES X-ray flare class, NOAA R-scale radio blackout severity, computed aurora-visible latitude, and active NOAA space weather alerts, in one snapshot. - **URL**: https://apify.com/m_ctim/space-weather-alert.md - **Developed by:** [Timothy Kelvin](https://apify.com/m_ctim) (community) - **Categories:** Other - **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $5.50 / 1,000 space weather snapshots This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. 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 ## Space Weather Alert — Aurora Visibility & HF Radio Blackout One snapshot combining the space-weather numbers ham radio operators, aurora chasers, and HF/satellite comms people currently check by hand across several NOAA pages: - **Geomagnetic Kp index** — plus a computed aurora-visible latitude, so you get "aurora may be visible above ~54°N" instead of a bare number - **GOES X-ray flare class & NOAA R-scale** — the same R1–R5 radio-blackout severity scale NOAA itself publishes, derived from live X-ray flux - **Active NOAA space weather alerts/watches/warnings** — the official text bulletins, most recent first Built for ham radio operators tracking HF propagation, aurora photographers/tourism operators planning by visibility latitude, and anyone who currently refreshes spaceweather.gov manually. ### Input ```json { "maxAlerts": 10 } ``` | Field | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | `maxAlerts` | integer (default `10`) | How many of the most recent NOAA alert/watch/warning messages to include. | ### Output One record per run: ```json { "geomagnetic": { "kpIndex": 4, "observedAt": "2026-08-08T00:00:00", "auroraVisibleLatitude": 58.3 }, "radioBlackout": { "xrayFlux": 0.0000253, "flareClass": "M2.5", "observedAt": "2026-08-08T01:02:00Z", "rScale": "R1", "rScaleDescription": "Minor radio blackout" }, "activeAlerts": [ { "productId": "K04W", "issuedAt": "2026-08-04 08:10:52.687", "message": "Space Weather Message Code: WARK04\r\n..." } ], "fetchedAt": "2026-08-08T01:40:00.000Z" } ``` ### How it works Three direct calls to NOAA's own public JSON feeds — no scraping, no proxy, no key: - Kp index: `services.swpc.noaa.gov/products/noaa-planetary-k-index.json` - X-ray flux: `services.swpc.noaa.gov/json/goes/primary/xrays-6-hour.json` (the `0.1-0.8nm` long channel, GOES's standard flare-classification band) - Alerts: `services.swpc.noaa.gov/products/alerts.json` **R-scale thresholds** and **flare-class letters** follow NOAA's own published definitions (see [swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation](https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation)). **Aurora-visible latitude** is a widely published approximate viewline table by Kp index — a planning signal, not a guarantee; local weather, light pollution, and time of night all matter too. ### Pricing note Billed per **snapshot** (one run = one charge), regardless of how many alerts are active. Cheap enough to schedule hourly for continuous monitoring without the cost multiplying with alert volume. ### Related products - [US Weather Forecast & Alerts Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/us-weather-tracker) — ground-level NWS forecasts and alerts for a location - [Field Operations Risk Briefing](https://github.com/timmKal01/field-operations-risk-briefing) — combines weather with GPS/radio conditions for field crews - [Earthquake Alert](https://github.com/timmKal01/earthquake-alert) — a different hazard type (seismic activity) for the same kind of monitoring use case # Actor input Schema ## `maxAlerts` (type: `integer`): How many of the most recent NOAA space weather alert/watch/warning messages to include in the snapshot. ## Actor input object example ```json { "maxAlerts": 10 } ``` # 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 '' 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("m_ctim/space-weather-alert").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("m_ctim/space-weather-alert").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 m_ctim/space-weather-alert --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,m_ctim/space-weather-alert" } } } ``` 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 ` 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/ubGcggxYZYpre3gzW/builds/RRLTtRjaDeOvHQBoj/openapi.json