satellite.json returns animated infrared satellite imagery as map tiles: the frames of the last two hours (every 10 minutes),
a signed tile URL template and a colour legend. The imagery is the 10.3 µm "clean" infrared channel of NOAA's GOES-East and
GOES-West satellites: cloud tops are shown from grey to white, and the coldest, highest storm tops in colour. Warm ground and sea are
transparent, so it works as an overlay with our radar tiles.
lightning.json returns the lightning flashes near a location in the last 5 to 30 minutes, from the GOES Geostationary Lightning
Mapper, with the nearest distance and time, and a tile URL that draws recent flashes on a map.
Coverage: the Americas and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (lightning about 52° N to 52° S). Europe, Africa and Asia will be added. The covered field tells you whether a location is in range.
Available on Pro+ plan and above. Keys on other plans receive error code 2009. Each request counts as one API call; map tiles don't (fair use, as for radar).
Example requests
https://api.weatherapi.com/v1/satellite.json?key=<YOUR_API_KEY>&q=Miami
https://api.weatherapi.com/v1/lightning.json?key=<YOUR_API_KEY>&q=29.76,-95.37&radius_km=30&minutes=15
Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|
| key | Yes | Your API key. |
| q | Yes | Location (the map centre, or the place to check for lightning). |
| radius_km | No | lightning.json: distance to look within, 1 to 500. Default 50. |
| minutes | No | lightning.json: how far back to look, 5 to 30. Default 30. |
satellite.json response
available, covered, coverage_note, product, tile_url (replace {z}, {x}, {y} and {time} with a frame's time; zoom 0 to 8; the URL is signed and works for two hours), tile_url_expires_epoch, sources, frames (time, time_epoch), legend (below_c, color) and attribution.
lightning.json response
available, covered, radius_km, minutes, count, nearest_km, latest_epoch, flashes (up to 200, newest first: lat, lon, time_epoch, distance_km), tile_url with tile_time (flashes in the 30 minutes before it: yellow under 5 minutes old, then orange and red) and attribution.
Please show the attribution with the imagery: "NOAA GOES-East / GOES-West" and "NOAA GOES GLM".