Local storm reports

Official NWS local storm reports, the tornadoes, hail, wind damage and flooding offices confirm, filtered by time, box, category, state and office.

Base URL: https://api.wxalerts.org

The National Weather Service’s local storm reports: what an office has confirmed happened, from spotters, emergency managers, the public and automated stations. Each report is a point, a time, the office’s own event wording and, where there is one, a measured or estimated magnitude.

GET /lsr/reports
GET /lsr/reports?hours=24&state=TX,OK
GET /lsr/reports?hours=72&categories=tornado,hail&bbox=-103,33,-94,37
GET /lsr/reports?office=KOUN

No key needed. Browsers block calls from other websites (CORS allows only wxalerts.org), so call it from a server, script or app. Responses carry Cache-Control: public, max-age=60. Limits are on the overview.

These are official NWS records, not the unofficial reports people file through wxalerts.org, which are a separate feed.

parameter
`hours`	how far back to look, 1 to 72. Default 6
`bbox`	`minLon,minLat,maxLon,maxLat`. Only reports inside the box
`categories`	comma separated categories. Case does not matter. An unknown name is a `422`, not an empty list
`state`	comma separated two letter states or territories, such as `TX,OK` or `PR`. Case does not matter
`office`	comma separated issuing offices, as the four letter ID the product carries: `KOUN`, `PAJK`, `TJSJ`. Case does not matter, but the three letter form (`OUN`) matches nothing

Filters combine: a report has to pass every one given.

The window is on valid_at, when the weather happened, not when the report arrived. Offices often issue a report hours after the event, sometimes the next morning, so a late report can arrive already outside a short window. That is deliberate: it describes weather that is over. Ask for a longer hours to catch up on a day.

Reports come back newest first, as a plain JSON array. There is no paging: a response holds at most 1,000 reports, and past that the oldest in the window are the ones left out.

What a response holds

[
  {
    "id": 34564,
    "valid_at": "2026-11-09T18:41:00Z",
    "event": "Flood",
    "category": "flood",
    "office": "KEWX",
    "lat": 29.83,
    "lon": -100.4,
    "city": "16 N Kickapoo Cavern St",
    "county": "Edwards",
    "state": "TX",
    "source": "Emergency Manager",
    "magnitude": null,
    "magnitude_unit": null,
    "magnitude_method": null,
    "magnitude_trace": false,
    "remarks": "EM report of water over area roadways in Edwards County including Highway 377 and RR 674 following prolonged steady rain. Some locations with 2.5 ft of water and extensive ponding along shoulders. Location is approximate."
  },
  {
    "id": 34563,
    "valid_at": "2026-11-09T18:05:00Z",
    "event": "Non-Tstm Wnd Gst",
    "category": "wind",
    "office": "PAJK",
    "lat": 57.05,
    "lon": -135.36,
    "city": "1 W Sitka",
    "county": "Sitka",
    "state": "AK",
    "source": "ASOS/AWOS",
    "magnitude": 54.0,
    "magnitude_unit": "MPH",
    "magnitude_method": "measured",
    "magnitude_trace": false,
    "remarks": null
  },
  "..."
]

field
`id`	stable for the report. A corrected or reissued report updates the same row, so a client can key on it
`valid_at`	when the event happened, UTC. The product states local time; it is converted once, when the report is read
`event`	the office’s own wording, verbatim and unnormalized: `Tstm Wnd Gst` and `Non-Tstm Wnd Gst` are different claims. Show this to a reader
`category`	a coarse grouping for colour and icon choice. See categories
`office`	the issuing office, four letters
`lat`, `lon`	where, as the office gave it
`city`	the office’s location wording, often a distance and bearing from a town (`"3 W Midway"`). May be cut short by the product’s column width
`county`, `state`	as the office gave them
`source`	who reported it: `Trained Spotter`, `Emergency Manager`, `ASOS/AWOS`, `Public`, `CoCoRaHS` and so on. Also subject to the column width (`"Department of Hig"`)
`magnitude`	the number, if the report has one. Many flood and damage reports do not, and `null` there means no number was given, not zero
`magnitude_unit`	`MPH` for wind, `INCH` for hail, rain and snow, `MI` for the visibility in a fog report (offices write it bare; the API supplies the unit)
`magnitude_method`	`measured`, `estimated` or `unknown`, from the product’s M, E or U flag. Keep it with the number: a measured 67 mph gust is an instrument reading, an estimated one is a judgement
`magnitude_trace`	`true` for a trace (of rain or snow): more than nothing, less than the smallest amount the product can express. `magnitude` is then `null`
`remarks`	the office’s free text, or `null`

category	event wording it covers
`tornado`	tornado, waterspout
`funnel`	funnel cloud, wall cloud
`hail`	hail
`wind`	thunderstorm and non thunderstorm wind gusts and damage, downbursts, marine thunderstorm wind, high sustained winds
`flood`	flood, flash flood, coastal flood, storm surge
`rain`	heavy rain, rain
`winter`	snow, sleet, freezing rain, ice storm, blizzard
`lightning`	lightning
`fire`	wildfire
`landslide`	landslide, mudslide, debris flow
`other`	everything else, such as fog

Errors

status
`422`	`hours` outside 1 to 72, a `bbox` that is not four numbers, or an unknown category (`"unknown category: hial"`)

What a response holds

Categories

Errors