RainViewer Weather Radar API
Free public weather radar API for personal, educational, and small-scale community use. Access tile pyramids from 1200+ radars worldwide across 150+ countries, refreshed every 5 minutes — the same data that powers our iOS, Android, and web apps.
This API is available for personal and educational use only.
Terms of Use
- The API is free for personal or educational use.
- We do not guarantee the availability of radar data. We do not conclude contracts with owners of this data. The reason is that the owners can ask us to remove their data from RainViewer, change the format, or stop sharing the data. We are trying to keep radar data for as long as possible, but sometimes the owners just stop providing the images.
- You can change any image received by this API without any restrictions (for example, apply a custom color scheme to the images).
- We kindly ask you to mention the RainViewer API as a source of the data on your website with a link: https://www.rainviewer.com/
Available APIs
- Weather Maps API - Tiled past radar data maps
Additional Information
- Single Radar Data : Source radar images
- Color Schemes : Color scheme and color table
- API Examples : Ready-to-use request examples for the RainViewer API
- Weather Radar Database API : Coverage and metadata of the radar network
- API Transition Summary : What changed between API versions and how to migrate
- RainViewer API Status Page : API status, performance and uptime information
- Data Sources : Links to original radar data providers
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the RainViewer API completely free to use, even for production projects?
Yes — the public Weather Maps API is free for personal, educational, and small-scale community use. There's no fee or paid tier currently, but the free service comes without SLA guarantees and is not intended for high-volume commercial applications.
Do I need to register or obtain an API key to access RainViewer endpoints?
No registration or API key is required for the free tier. You can fetch the JSON endpoints and tile URLs directly from your application. We recommend caching responses on your side to reduce load and improve your app's reliability.
What attribution does RainViewer require when I use the API in my application?
You must display credit such as "Weather data by RainViewer" with a link back to rainviewer.com somewhere visible in your app or website. Attribution is mandatory under the free terms of use and helps us continue offering the API at no cost.
Can I use the RainViewer API commercially, or only for non-commercial projects?
The free tier targets personal, educational, and small community projects. For high-volume traffic, commercial integration, or any use case where you depend on guaranteed availability, get in touch — bespoke commercial terms are arranged case-by-case.
Are there rate limits or guaranteed uptime for the free RainViewer API?
There are no hard rate limits posted, but please cache aggressively and avoid hammering endpoints — abuse may result in your IP being blocked. We don't publish an SLA; the API is provided best-effort. Always include retry logic and graceful degradation in your client.
What kind of data can I retrieve through the RainViewer API right now?
The Weather Maps API exposes radar tile URLs, timeline metadata for the past 2 hours plus nowcast frames, and color scheme variants. You can build map overlays, automated weather notifications, embedded radar widgets, and similar applications using only this endpoint.