Weather data sources and attribution

This document describes the sources of the data used within Visual Crossing Weather Data

Weather Forecast Information

We combine multiple weather forecast models to create our 16 day weather forecast. When combining the models and forecast.

Weather Forecast Sources

National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) : The National Digital Forecast Database provided by NOAA

Global Forecast System (GFS) forecast model.

North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model

High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) forecast model

ICON:  icosahedral nonhydrostatic weather model provided by The German Meteorological Office.

Global Forecast System (GFS) : The Global Forecast System model provided by NOAA

Historical Weather Data

The following sources are used to create our global historical weather data database. These providers provide raw observation data at the minute, sub-hourly, hourly or daily level. Most observations are actual timed observations. Daily level information are summaries of the day.

Hourly observations will include weather stations such as airports and other local stations. Sub-hourly information includes personal weather stations.

Historical data observations are interpolated based on the weather station proximity to the location. For more information see How We Process the Historical Weather Data.

Historical Weather Data Sources

Integrated Surface Database

MADIS  meteorological observational database sources:

  • METAR data including ASOS, AWOS, and non-automated reports
  • Integrated Mesonet Data
  • Maritime Data from ship and buoy data
  • Snow data including data from SNOw TELemetry (SNOTEL)

Deutscher Wetterdienst  (DWD)

Global Historical Climate Network Daily (GHCN-D).

Address Lookup and Geocoding

Address geocoding is the process of finding the exact geographical in latitude, longitude coordinates based on an address or partial address.

here