SYNOP

This is an Opt-in public dataset

SYNOP (surface synoptic observations) is a standard code managed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for reporting weather and climate observations, similar to METAR reports, used around the world to share data from manned and automated weather stations. Contrary to METAR reports, SYNOP can be used to report non-aviation specific observations, for general weather forecasting purposes. Around 8,600 stationary SYNOP observing locations are now available via a feed from the WMO, which are then decoded and disseminated through our web services as variables listed here, as well as the original SYNOP messages.

SYNOP can be called through the Weather API by the MNET ID 284.

The reporting frequency of SYNOP observations can vary depending on the station or observer, transmitting regular reports on 3 hour intervals (starting at 00:00 UTC). SYNOP observations can also be transmitted or converted from a wide variety of stations, so users should be aware the data transmitted from the feed can also be present in METAR, Global METAR, CWOP and other surface observing networks.

Considerations

There are many nuances to receiving and using the SYNOP dataset.

Data Overlaps

SYNOP observations can also be transmitted or converted from a wide variety of stations, so users should be aware the data transmitted from the feed can also be present in METAR, Global METAR, CWOP and other surface observing networks. While most have been filtered out to prevent duplicates, some stations may still appear twice with different levels of coordinate precision or identifiers.

Reporting Frequency

The reporting frequency of SYNOP observations can vary depending on the station or observer. These are transmitted regularly ever 3 hours from 00:00 UTC and sometimes (depending on the particular station) every 6 hours with more information. SYNOP observations are sent at the following times (all UTC):

SYNOP Message Encoding

The variables available from each SYNOP station are decoded from the raw SYNOP messages. These are returned alongside the observations as “Raw SYNOP Message“, which encoded according the WMO stands for FM-12 SYNOP observations documented here (on page 33).

Available Variables

At this time, not all available variables are being disseminated through Synoptic. Specifically, the climate oriented variables (24 hour max/min, duration of precipitation etc.) and surface conditions have not been added.

The following variables are available from SYNOP: