Automatic precipitation stations
As a meteorological parameter, precipitation exhibits a very high spatial variability and therefore requires a denser measurement network. In supplement to automatic weather stations MeteoSwiss thus operates about 100 additional stations for the automatic measurement of precipitation.
They deliver precipitation – every 10 minutes.
Data download
The Open Data from MeteoSwiss may be used without restriction; the source must be cited when reproducing or redistributing ("Source: MeteoSwiss").
✅ By using 'Open Data' from MeteoSchweiz, you confirm that you have taken note of the 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-precip
Read our documentation on how to download files 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-precip
Download data manually
Select and download files per station manually via MeteoSwiss' Open Data Explorer.
Data structure
- Files per station
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.
See e.g. files for station Airolo (AIR) with all granularities and update frequencies mentioned: ogd-smn-precip_air_(data granularity)_(update frequency).csv.
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).
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 .
ogd-smn-precip_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-precip_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-precip_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.