Automatic weather stations
Around 160 stations of the automatic measurement network SwissMetNet comprise a complete measurement programme.
They deliver temperature, precipitation, wind, sunshine, humidity, radiation and pressure – every 10 minutes.
The network is supplemented by around 100 automatic precipitation stations. Together, these stations form the basis for the creation of reliable local weather forecasts as well as severe weather and flood warnings. Additionally MeteoSwiss operates 3 automatic tower stations at 150m to 230m above ground for boundary layer measurements.
Data download
The Open Data from MeteoSwiss may be used without restriction; the source must be cited when reproducing or redistributing ("Source: MeteoSwiss"). Read our Open Data terms of use.
Download data automatically
Download files per station automatically via FSDI's REST API: https://data.geo.admin.ch/api/stac/v1/collections/ch.meteoschweiz.ogd-smn
Read our information on how you can obtain data automatically.
The STAC Browser can be a useful tool to facilitate the use of the API: https://data.geo.admin.ch/browser/index.html#/collections/ch.meteoschweiz.ogd-smn
Download data manually
Download files per station manually via the STAC Browser1: https://data.geo.admin.ch/browser/index.html#/collections/ch.meteoschweiz.ogd-smn
1 After the switch from the Beta to the Live phase, a link to MeteoSwiss' Open Data Explorer will follow here.
Data structure
- Files per station
- One file with all stations
The data is split by measuring station. A file for a station contains all available parameters in one file. There are files with 10-minute t, hourly h, daily d, monthly m and yearly y values.
We strongly recommend that you download the corresponding aggregated data granularity.
Depending on the granularity there are files with update frequency now, recent and historical.
The update interval for files with 10-minute values is set to 20 minutes. If you require a higher update frequency, use the One file with all stations instead.
Time series can begin before the introduction of automatic measurements in the year 1981. Before 1981 at least three values per day were manually measured. They are stored as individual 10-minute values (synoptic observations).
In addition we offer the main parameters of all stations (in one file) – every 10 minutes, most recent values.
The update interval for this file is around 10 minutes.
Time in UTC: 00:40 UTC = 02:40 local (CH) summer time, 01:40 winter time
Main parameters are:
| Identifier | Description |
|---|---|
tre200s0 | Air temperature 2 m above ground; current value |
rre150z0 | Precipitation; ten minutes total |
sre000z0 | Sunshine duration; ten minutes total |
gre000z0 | Global radiation; ten minutes mean |
ure200s0 | Relative air humidity 2 m above ground; current value |
tde200s0 | Dew point 2 m above ground; current value |
dkl010z0 | Wind direction; ten minutes mean |
fu3010z0 | Wind speed; ten minutes mean in km/h |
fu3010z1 | Gust peak (one second); maximum in km/h |
prestas0 | Atmospheric pressure at barometric altitude (QFE1); current value |
pp0qffs0 | Pressure reduced to sea level (QFF2); current value |
pp0qnhs0 | Pressure reduced to sea level according to standard atmosphere (QNH3); current value |
ppz850s0 | Geopotential height of the 850 hPA level; current value |
ppz700s0 | Geopotential height of the 700 hPA level; current value |
dv1towz0 | Wind direction vectorial tower4; ten minutes mean |
fu3towz0 | Wind speed scalar tower4; ten minutes mean in km/h |
u3towz1 | Gust peak (one second) tower4; maximum in km/h |
ta1tows0 | Air temperature tower4; current value |
uretows0 | Relative air humidity tower4; current value |
tdetows0 | Dew point tower4; current value |
1 QFE = the isobaric surface pressure at the reference point
2 QFF = the air pressure at the measuring site, reduced to the sea level. It is used in the field of meteorology in order to compare the air pressures of different places at different heights.
3 QNH = the air pressure at the measuring station, reduced to sea level acc. to "standard atmosphere".
4 Information about the automatic tower stations dataset/collection.
Data format
CSV with an estimated volume of ≤5.3 MB per file.
Metadata
- Parameter
- Stations
- Data inventory
All parameters have a unique identifier that depends on the time resolution (e.g. dkl010z0 for "wind direction; ten-minute average").
ogd-smn_meta_parameters.csv provides a list of all parameter identifiers with explanation, time interval, decimal places, data type and unit of measurement.
All stations have a three-letter identifier (e.g. BER for "Bern/Zollikofen" or LUG for "Lugano").
ogd-smn_meta_stations.csv provides a list of all station identifiers with name, Canton, Wigos ID, station type, altitude, coordinates, orientation and URL of the station details pages.
ogd-smn_meta_datainventory.csv provides a list of all stations and parameters with start and end date of the measurements.
Data usage
See e.g. MeteoSwiss' SwissMetNet network map.
For climate analyses, use the corresponding Climate stations - Homogeneous measurements instead.