Support for Aeris PWS (Weather Underground no longer provides free API keys)

Subject says it all –

Weather Underground’s already issued API keys will work, but obviously they will one day start charging for usage. See (https://apicommunity.wunderground.com/weatherapi/topics/weather-underground-api-changes)

Aeris’s PWS service looks like a good alternative; they provide an open API and developers can use it for non-commercial use without charge. See (https://www.aerisweather.com/support/docs/api/)

If my coding skills were a bit better I’d try developing a component on my own, but I’m hoping this feature request will motivate someone with the right skill set to lead the way.

Aeris’s signup confuses me as to how long the free developer account lasts. Is it forever or just a month or so?

Looks like the developer account is valid for two months, with indefinite renewal.

(https://www.aerisweather.com/signup/pricing/)

API: 750 accesses/day
AMP: 2,500 map units/day
Includes
2 months free access to Aeris API and Aeris AMP*

Aeris API
Includes access to most Premium level endpoints.
Observations Archive limited to the current day.

  • Valid for renewable 2 month periods
  • Not for commercial use

Thanks that seems ok.

I’m not sure quite where the support needs to fit into the HomeAssistant architecture, but all the needed pre-processing code is already written (in Python) for weewx so it should be easier to adapt if we find the right HA developer to help shepherd the process.

Yes it seems crazy to upload your weather to some website, then have HA download it again. Direct API access to weewx seems a lot better option.

If you only want your ons PWS weather it is OK to use the direct API but I dont believe they can build a forecast on only one PWS or…

Agreed. I would like to develop a way to get the forecast and radar from the NOAA and NWS sites, local area data from a PWS network like Aeris, and then my local PWS from my own site. I also have a friend with a cabin in another part of the state and he wants to be able to see his data from there.

I have some developer expertise (ancient) and am trying to climb the knowledge hill to be able to contribute to HASS. Unfortunately I am not sure where to start the effort. Any tips would be helpful. I am very comfortable with how to get the weather and climate data we need from NWS/NOAA/NCDC. Just not where to “plug-in” to the HASS architecture.

Interested in doing the same thing. Just reached out to Aeris, and they will be providing free API use to any PWS contributor. I have my own PWS and send my data to WU, PWS, and CWOP to name a few. I’m not aware of an API for CWOP, but there might be other ways to pull the data into HA.

It would be great to have a direct interface from HA to the weather station software (locally) using Weather Display… Then we wouldn’t even require an API or 3rd party.

I’m looking at WeeWx (docs here) to see if I can do just that. It has been around for many years, is written in Python, and according to the docs interfaces into HA. Just haven’t had time to work with it. I have been focusing on finishing my weather/environmental station first. Once that is all working to NOAA specs I plan on ensuring it “talks to” WeeWx (or vice versa).

Turns out weewx already supports Aeris. It also has a skin and reporting capability that uses python Cheeta. A number of dashboard configurations have been put on github and many are as nice as Weather Display. I am now focusing on getting my weather station built (see hack-a-day project) and will ensure that it links cleanly with weewx, Home Assistant, influxdb, and Grafana. Those are things I already have working and when the station is complete I will post on my github a software architecture and any mods/linkages needed.
Now to find the time to fit the station stuff into the real life priority structure, sigh.