RainViewer API

⭐ Beginner's Pick Weather / No Auth Required Beginner HTTPS
Free to Use Varies (check documentation)

Overview

RainViewer provides radar imagery and rain map tile data collected from weather radar stations around the world, with no API key required. It returns URLs to animated radar tiles you can overlay on maps like Leaflet or Google Maps to show precipitation movement in real time. Beginners can add live rain radar to any mapping app without authentication.

💡

Beginner Tip

No sign-up is needed — just call the API and use the returned tile URLs directly on a map library like Leaflet.js. Fetch the list of available radar timestamps first, then build the tile URL for each frame.

Available Data

RainViewer data via REST API
JSON-formatted response data
Freely accessible without authentication

Example Response

JSON Response
{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "result": "Data from RainViewer",
    "description": "Radar data collected from different websites across the Internet",
    "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:00:00Z"
  }
}

Field Reference

version API version string for the returned data format
generated Unix timestamp when this map data list was generated
host Base CDN URL to prepend when building full tile image URLs
radar.past Array of past radar frame objects with time and path properties for historical playback
radar.nowcast Array of near-future predicted radar frames based on nowcasting algorithms
satellite.infrared Array of infrared satellite imagery frames for global cloud cover visualization

Implementation Example

const url = "https://www.rainviewer.com/";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

Blank or missing radar tiles on the map Incorrect tile URL format or outdated timestamp
Always fetch the latest weather-maps.json to get current timestamps; radar data expires after about 2 hours
CORS error in browser Requesting tile URLs directly without a map library
Use a mapping library like Leaflet with a TileLayer, which handles CORS correctly for raster tiles
No precipitation shown in known rainy area Using a past timestamp or no radar coverage in that region
Check the coverage array in the API response to confirm radar availability for your region

Matrix Score Breakdown

🌐 Reachability 30/30
⚡ Speed 15/20
🔒 Security 15/15
🛠 Developer XP 15/20
✓ Reliability 7/15
Response Time 310ms

Fully tested on Apr 5, 2026

Technical Specifications

Auth No Auth
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS UNKNOWN
Category Weather
Difficulty Beginner
Verified: 2026-04-04

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