Collect, Store, and Analyze Weather Data Using OpenWeather API and AWS S3

In the age of data-driven decisions, weather data has become a crucial asset for industries ranging from agriculture and transportation to energy and finance. With APIs like OpenWeather and cloud storage solutions like Amazon S3, developers and analysts can easily collect, store, and analyze weather data for real-time and historical insights.

This guide walks you through the steps to collect weather data from OpenWeather API, store it securely in AWS S3, and set the stage for advanced analytics using AWS services.

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Step 1: Setting Up OpenWeather API

Create an Account and Get an API Key

1. Go to OpenWeather and sign up.
   
   

2. Navigate to the API section and subscribe to a plan (the free tier is often sufficient).
   
   

3. Retrieve your API key.
   
   

Sample API Endpoint

To get current weather data:

https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?q=London&appid=YOUR_API_KEY

You can modify the endpoint to collect hourly forecasts, historical data, or data by coordinates.

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Step 2: Collecting Weather Data Programmatically

Python Script Example

import requests

import json

API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here'

CITY = 'New York'

URL = f'https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?q={CITY}&appid={API_KEY}'

response = requests.get(URL)

weather_data = response.json()

with open('weather.json', 'w') as file:

    json.dump(weather_data, file)

This script saves the JSON response locally, which can then be pushed to AWS S3.

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Step 3: Storing Weather Data in AWS S3

Set up AWS CLI or Boto3

Install the AWS CLI and configure your credentials:

aws configure

Upload File Using AWS CLI

aws s3 cp weather.json s3://your-bucket-name/weather-data/

Upload Using Python (Boto3)

import boto3

s3 = boto3.client('s3')

s3.upload_file('weather.json', 'your-bucket-name', 'weather-data/weather.json')

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Step 4: Analyzing Weather Data with AWS

Option 1: AWS Athena + S3

1. Convert your weather data to CSV or Parquet.
   
   

2. Create a data catalog in AWS Glue.
   
   

3. Use Athena to run SQL queries on your S3 bucket.
   
   

Option 2: Amazon QuickSight

Connect QuickSight to Athena for interactive dashboards and visualizations.

Option 3: AWS Lambda + Amazon EventBridge

Set up automated Lambda functions to:

• Fetch weather data hourly/daily
  
  

• Store data in S3
  
  

• Trigger alerts for extreme weather patterns
  
  

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Conclusion

By leveraging OpenWeather API and AWS S3, you can build a robust and scalable weather data pipeline. This enables near real-time analytics and helps organizations make informed decisions based on climate patterns.