Behind the forecast
A useful forecast needs context. Here is where our information comes from, how fresh it is and what its limits mean for you.
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Our sources
Weather readings, forecasts, astronomy, air quality and available alerts come from WeatherAPI. We present those readings in a consistent format; weather.ws does not operate its own network of weather stations. Provider availability and coverage vary by region and data type.
Weather maps
Precipitation, temperature and wind maps are forecast layers from WeatherAPI, not observed radar. They show a regional outlook for the next three days in hourly intervals. The timeline uses UTC. Precipitation is a rate in mm/h, temperature is measured at 2 m in °C, and wind is shown in m/s. Missing tiles or unavailable coverage do not mean there is no rain. Country outlines come from public-domain Natural Earth data. These maps are for weather planning and are not street maps or navigation charts.
Update times and cached readings
The current-weather update time comes from the provider. The service normally reuses fetched forecasts for up to ten minutes. During a temporary update failure, a clearly labeled cached forecast can remain visible for less than 50 minutes after retrieval, provided its first forecast day still matches the location’s current date. That retention window is not a guarantee that every underlying observation is less than 50 minutes old.
Forecast areas and missing data
A location name identifies a place, while weather can represent a surrounding forecast area. Hills, coastlines and local conditions can create differences nearby. Forecast horizons may be shorter than 14 days when the provider supplies fewer days. A dash or unavailable message means a reading is missing, not zero.
Official alerts
Alert messages are relayed through the provider. Coverage is not complete or independently verified. Expired messages are removed, and alerts do not use the stale-forecast fallback. “No active messages returned” means the provider returned no current messages; it does not mean there is no risk. Check your local weather authority for complete warnings.
Air quality and time
Air-quality labels use US EPA categories, with pollutant readings shown separately where available. The category is not a numerical AQI reading. Dates and forecast hours follow the selected location’s time zone. Daylight-saving changes can make a forecast day shorter or longer than 24 hours.
Places and attribution
Our city and town directory is adapted from GeoNames, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. We format names, regional information and page addresses for weather.ws. The directory includes many places above 500 people and administrative seats, but not every settlement. Place information may contain omissions or errors.
Forecasts have limits
Weather is uncertain. Use forecasts to inform ordinary plans, and consult official sources for decisions involving safety. WeatherAPI’s terms and data disclaimer explain the provider’s conditions. Source links and attribution do not imply endorsement of weather.ws.