🛫 NOAA Aviation Weather METAR TAF Scraper

🚀 Export live airport weather in seconds. Pull current METAR observations and TAF terminal forecasts for any airport worldwide straight from the NOAA Aviation Weather Center, with 23 clean fields per record.

🕒 Last updated: 2026-06-04 · 📊 23 fields per METAR record · global ICAO coverage · keyless public source

Track real flying weather the way pilots and dispatchers do. This Actor reads the official NOAA Aviation Weather Center (AWC) data service and returns decoded METAR surface observations or TAF terminal aerodrome forecasts for any list of airport ICAO codes you provide. No API key, no login, no scraping tricks. Just the same data feed that powers flight planning, normalized into tidy rows.

Coverage: Any airport that reports to the global METAR/TAF network is supported, from US fields like KJFK and KLAX to international ones like EGLL (London Heathrow). You pass ICAO identifiers, pick METAR or TAF, and get back temperature, wind, visibility, cloud layers, altimeter, flight category (VFR/MVFR/IFR/LIFR), the original raw report, and station coordinates.

🎯 Target Audience	💡 Primary Use Cases
Pilots and flight instructors	Pre-flight weather briefings
Dispatchers and flight ops teams	Go / no-go decision support
Drone and UAV operators	Checking ceilings and visibility before launch
Aviation app and dashboard builders	Feeding live weather into a product
Data scientists and researchers	Building aviation weather datasets

📋 What the AviationWeather METAR TAF Scraper does

• Pulls current METAR observations for a list of airport ICAO codes (temperature, dewpoint, wind, gusts, visibility, altimeter, sea level pressure, cloud layers, flight category, raw report).
• Pulls TAF terminal forecasts with every forecast period decoded into a clean nested array (valid window, wind, visibility, cloud cover per period, plus the raw TAF text).
• Normalizes observation and forecast times from epoch to ISO timestamps.
• Summarizes cloud layers into a readable string like FEW900 SCT1800.
• Returns station name, latitude, longitude, and elevation for mapping.
• Lets you control how many hours back to search for METAR reports.

🎬 Full Demo (🚧 Coming soon)

⚙️ Input

Field	Type	Required	Description
ids	array	yes	List of 4-letter ICAO airport codes (for example KJFK, KLAX, EGLL).
reportType	select	yes	METAR for current observations or TAF for terminal forecasts.
hours	integer	no	Lookback window in hours for METAR search. Default 1. Ignored for TAF.
maxItems	integer	no	Cap on returned records. Free plan is limited to 10.

METAR example

{
  "ids": ["KJFK", "KLAX", "KORD", "EGLL", "KSFO"],
  "reportType": "METAR",
  "hours": 1,
  "maxItems": 10
}

TAF example

{
  "ids": ["KJFK", "KLAX", "KSFO"],
  "reportType": "TAF",
  "maxItems": 10
}

⚠️ Good to Know: Use valid 4-letter ICAO identifiers, not 3-letter IATA codes. Los Angeles is KLAX, not LAX. Some fields such as wind gust, sea level pressure, and weather phenomena only appear when the airport actually reports them, so they can be null on a calm, clear day. That is the real report, not a missing value.

📊 Output

Each METAR record contains these fields:

Field	Description
🛫 stationId	Airport ICAO identifier
📌 stationName	Airport name and location
🚦 flightCategory	VFR, MVFR, IFR, or LIFR
🏷 reportSubtype	METAR or SPECI
📡 rawObservation	Original raw METAR text
🕒 observedAt	Observation time (ISO)
🕒 reportTime	Reported time (ISO)
🌡 temperatureC	Temperature in Celsius
💧 dewpointC	Dewpoint in Celsius
🧭 windDirection	Wind direction in degrees
💨 windSpeedKt	Wind speed in knots
🌀 windGustKt	Wind gust in knots (when reported)
👁 visibility	Visibility in statute miles
📐 altimeterHpa	Altimeter setting in hectopascals
🌊 seaLevelPressureHpa	Sea level pressure (when reported)
🌧 weather	Active weather phenomena (when present)
☁ cloudCover	Dominant cloud cover code
☁ cloudLayers	Readable cloud layer summary
📍 latitude	Station latitude
📍 longitude	Station longitude
⛰ elevationM	Station elevation in meters
🕒 scrapedAt	When the record was collected
❌ error	Error message, null on success

Real sample records (METAR):

{
  "stationId": "EGLL",
  "stationName": "London/Heathrow Intl, EN, GB",
  "flightCategory": "VFR",
  "reportSubtype": "METAR",
  "rawObservation": "METAR EGLL 041920Z AUTO 26020KT 9999 FEW037/// //////TCU 17/08 Q1002",
  "observedAt": "2026-06-04T19:20:00.000Z",
  "reportTime": "2026-06-04T19:20:00.000Z",
  "temperatureC": 17,
  "dewpointC": 8,
  "windDirection": 260,
  "windSpeedKt": 20,
  "windGustKt": null,
  "visibility": "6+",
  "altimeterHpa": 1002,
  "seaLevelPressureHpa": null,
  "weather": null,
  "cloudCover": "FEW",
  "cloudLayers": "FEW3700",
  "latitude": 51.477,
  "longitude": -0.461,
  "elevationM": 26,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-04T19:50:20.925Z",
  "error": null
}

{
  "stationId": "KLAX",
  "stationName": "Los Angeles Intl, CA, US",
  "flightCategory": "VFR",
  "reportSubtype": "SPECI",
  "rawObservation": "SPECI KLAX 041902Z 27009G16KT 7SM FEW009 SCT018 21/15 A2991 RMK AO2 T02110150 $",
  "observedAt": "2026-06-04T19:02:00.000Z",
  "reportTime": "2026-06-04T19:02:00.000Z",
  "temperatureC": 21.1,
  "dewpointC": 15,
  "windDirection": 270,
  "windSpeedKt": 9,
  "windGustKt": 16,
  "visibility": 7,
  "altimeterHpa": 1013,
  "seaLevelPressureHpa": null,
  "weather": null,
  "cloudCover": "SCT",
  "cloudLayers": "FEW900 SCT1800",
  "latitude": 33.9382,
  "longitude": -118.3866,
  "elevationM": 30,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-04T19:50:20.978Z",
  "error": null
}

{
  "stationId": "KSFO",
  "stationName": "San Francisco Intl, CA, US",
  "flightCategory": "VFR",
  "reportSubtype": "METAR",
  "rawObservation": "METAR KSFO 041856Z 31014KT 10SM FEW006 19/11 A2994 RMK AO2 SLP139 T01890106",
  "observedAt": "2026-06-04T18:56:00.000Z",
  "reportTime": "2026-06-04T19:00:00.000Z",
  "temperatureC": 18.9,
  "dewpointC": 10.6,
  "windDirection": 310,
  "windSpeedKt": 14,
  "windGustKt": null,
  "visibility": "10+",
  "altimeterHpa": 1014,
  "seaLevelPressureHpa": 1013.9,
  "weather": null,
  "cloudCover": "FEW",
  "cloudLayers": "FEW600",
  "latitude": 37.6196,
  "longitude": -122.3656,
  "elevationM": 2,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-04T19:50:21.003Z",
  "error": null
}

In TAF mode, each record adds rawForecast, issuedAt, validFrom, validTo, remarks, and a forecastPeriods array where every period carries its own timeFrom, timeTo, changeType, wind, visibility, and cloud summary.

✨ Why choose this Actor

• Official source. Data comes straight from the NOAA Aviation Weather Center, the same authority pilots brief from.
• Two report types, one Actor. Switch between live METAR observations and TAF forecasts with a single setting.
• Clean per-type rows. METAR and TAF each return a purpose-built shape instead of a wide table full of empty columns.
• Readable and machine-friendly. Times are ISO, clouds are summarized, and the original raw report is always preserved.
• Global reach. Any reporting airport worldwide by ICAO code.

📈 How it compares to alternatives

Approach	Setup	Decoded output	METAR + TAF	Cost
This Actor	ICAO codes only	Yes, normalized rows	Both	Pay per use
Raw AWC API	Manual requests and parsing	You parse it	Both	Free but DIY
Generic weather APIs	Account and key	Often surface weather only	Rarely TAF	Subscription
Manual lookup	One airport at a time	Read raw text yourself	Both	Time

🚀 How to use

1. Sign up or log in to Apify using this link.
2. Open the AviationWeather METAR TAF Scraper.
3. Enter your airport ICAO codes in ids and choose METAR or TAF.
4. Optionally set hours for the METAR lookback and maxItems for the cap.
5. Run the Actor and download your results.

💼 Business use cases

Flight operations

Need	How this helps
Dispatch briefings	Pull current METAR and TAF for the whole route at once
Go / no-go calls	Read flight category and ceilings for every field

Aviation products

Need	How this helps
Weather widgets	Feed live observations into an app or dashboard
Alerting	Watch for IFR or LIFR conditions at key airports

Drone and UAV operations

Need	How this helps
Launch checks	Verify wind, gusts, and visibility before flying
Site planning	Compare conditions across multiple sites

Research and analytics

Need	How this helps
Trend studies	Build historical weather samples by station
Model inputs	Use decoded fields as features for forecasting

🔌 Automating AviationWeather METAR TAF Scraper

Connect this Actor to the tools you already use:

• Make and Zapier to trigger runs on a schedule and route results.
• Slack to post severe weather alerts to a channel.
• Airbyte to sync records into your warehouse.
• GitHub Actions to run briefings before a planned flight window.
• Google Drive to archive daily weather snapshots.

🌟 Beyond business use cases

• Research: study how flight categories shift across a day or season.
• Personal: check conditions at your home field before heading out.
• Non-profit: support search and rescue or disaster response planning.
• Experimentation: learn to decode METAR and TAF by comparing raw text to parsed fields.

🤖 Ask an AI assistant

Paste your results into ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Microsoft Copilot and ask it to summarize the flying weather, flag any airports below VFR, or explain a raw report in plain language.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need an API key or account with NOAA? No. The Aviation Weather Center data service is public and keyless. You only need an Apify account to run the Actor.

Q: What is the difference between METAR and TAF? METAR is a current surface weather observation. TAF is a Terminal Aerodrome Forecast covering the next 24 to 30 hours in defined periods.

Q: Should I use ICAO or IATA codes? ICAO, the 4-letter codes. Los Angeles is KLAX, London Heathrow is EGLL. IATA codes like LAX will not match.

Q: Why is windGustKt or weather null on some records? Those fields only appear when the airport actually reports gusts or active weather. On a calm, clear day they are genuinely absent, which is the correct report.

Q: What does flightCategory mean? It is the standard flight rules category derived from ceiling and visibility: VFR, MVFR, IFR, or LIFR.

Q: How fresh is the data? METAR reports update roughly hourly with special updates (SPECI) when conditions change. TAF is reissued several times a day. You always get the latest available.

Q: How many airports can I request at once? Pass as many ICAO codes as you like in ids. Output volume is bounded by your maxItems setting and plan.

Q: What does the hours setting do? For METAR it sets how far back to search for reports. Use 1 for the most recent only. It is ignored for TAF.

Q: Are the raw reports included? Yes. METAR records keep rawObservation and TAF records keep rawForecast so you can verify or re-parse them.

Q: Can I map the airports? Yes. Every record includes latitude, longitude, and elevation.

Q: Is this affiliated with NOAA? No. It is an independent tool that reads publicly available NOAA data.

Q: Can I schedule recurring runs? Yes. Use Apify Schedules or an integration like Make to run briefings automatically.

🔌 Integrate with any app

Results are available through the Apify API, so you can pull them into spreadsheets, databases, BI tools, or any custom application. Combine with Apify Schedules and integrations to build a hands-off aviation weather pipeline.

🔗 Recommended Actors

• NOAA Weather Scraper for general US forecasts and observations.
• Open-Meteo Weather Scraper for free global weather forecasts by coordinates.
• OurAirports Scraper for a global airport reference database.
• OpenSky Flights Scraper for live aircraft positions.
• Met.no Weather Forecast Scraper for European weather forecasts.

💡 Pro Tip: browse the complete ParseForge collection.

🆘 Need Help? Open our contact form

⚠️ Disclaimer: independent tool, not affiliated with NOAA or the National Weather Service. Only publicly available data is collected.