Quick Verdict
Cyanheads NWS Weather MCP Server wraps the US National Weather Service API as MCP tools. Version 0.7.2 provides seven tools and one resource for forecasts, active alerts, observations, nearby stations, alert types, Weather Forecast Office discussions, and zone forecasts across the United States and its territories. The Apache-2.0 project can run through npm, Bun, Docker, or source, while https://nws.caseyjhand.com/mcp offers a public Streamable HTTP instance.
This is not an official MCP server from the NWS, NOAA, or the US government. It is a community project that reads api.weather.gov. Its weather tools are read-only and do not modify NWS data or control a device, but a public server still processes the requested location and can observe the client IP, request time, tool arguments, and operational logs. Use it for ordinary context and research, not as the sole emergency, life-safety, or disaster-decision channel.
Best For
- MCP developers adding US weather to Claude, Cursor, VS Code, or custom clients
- US travel and outdoor prototypes that direct users back to official alerts
- Research workflows combining structured NWS data and forecaster discussions
- Teams willing to self-host Node.js or Bun and manage logs, updates, and User-Agent settings
- Not ideal for global weather, historical climate archives, radar layers, guaranteed SLAs, or sole-source emergency notification
Key Features
- Coordinate forecasts with automatic NWS grid resolution, seven-day periods, or the next 48 hourly periods
- Active alert search by area, point, zone, event, severity, urgency, certainty, and status
- Station observations by coordinates or station ID with dual-unit output
- Nearby station discovery sorted by distance with bearing, elevation, time zone, and zones
- Forecast-office products including AFD, HWO, ZFP, and SPS, plus public-zone text forecasts
- stdio and Streamable HTTP, with local, Docker, and free public-hosted options
- Upstream handling with coordinate caching, request timeouts, retry/backoff, and the required NWS User-Agent
Use Cases
- Summarize a US coordinate’s forecast with time zone and data timestamp
- Check active alerts by point or area, then send the user to the full official NWS alert
- Find nearby observation stations and disclose distance and missing measurements
- Read an Area Forecast Discussion or Hazardous Weather Outlook for uncertainty and context
- Test structured MCP errors, invalid coordinates, upstream timeouts, and result truncation without external writes
Pricing
Version 0.7.2 was current at the July 21, 2026 cutoff. The project code is Apache-2.0, and the npm package and self-hosted software are free. The NWS API requires no API key. Self-hosting still carries compute, container, network, monitoring, and maintenance costs. The code license does not automatically license government names, third-party infrastructure, or the operation of the public instance.
The public instance was free and installation-free, but the repository did not promise an SLA, fixed capacity, long-term availability, support hours, or published quota. It can be rate-limited, stopped, upgraded, or operationally logged. Production applications need timeouts, bounded retries, caching, circuit breaking, and an official-source fallback. Self-host and pin a version when availability and log control matter.
Pros
- Seven tools cover forecasts, alerts, observations, stations, and forecaster products
- NWS upstream requires no API key
- Multiple transports and npm, Bun, and Docker installation paths
- Apache-2.0 code can be reviewed and self-hosted
- Read-only weather tools do not modify official data
Cons
- Unofficial community MCP with no NWS, NOAA, or government service commitment
- US and territory coverage rather than global weather
- Free public instance has no SLA, fixed capacity, or permanence guarantee
- Depends on network, NWS API availability, stations, and changing forecast products
- Coordinates, IP addresses, and request logs create location-privacy concerns
- Not a guaranteed push-alert system or replacement for emergency channels
Alternatives
| Tool | Better for | Strength | Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mireye Earth | Agents needing US terrain, risk, parcel, and energy fields | Per-field provenance, vintage, and confidence | Weather is only part of a broader early-access service |
| Brave Search API | Agents retrieving weather news and web context | Broad current web retrieval | Not standardized NWS observations or alerts |
| Tavily | Developers adding weather-related web context and source summaries to agents | Agent-oriented web retrieval and extraction | Provides web context, not structured weather data; it cannot replace NWS forecasts, observations, or alerts |
| Singapore Government Open Data MCP | MCP users needing Singapore public data | Direct regional government datasets | Different geography and not a US weather replacement |
| Direct NWS API | Engineers not needing MCP | Direct control over requests, caching, and raw responses | Requires custom schemas, errors, and client integration |
FAQ
Is this an official NWS MCP server?
No. It is a community open-source project maintained by Cyanheads. It uses NWS data but is not shown as an official NWS, NOAA, or US government release or endorsement.
What tools are in v0.7.2?
Seven tools cover forecasts, alerts, observations, nearby stations, alert types, office discussions, and zone forecasts, plus an alert-type resource.
Are the software and public instance free?
The code and npm package are free, and the public instance was also free. Self-hosting has compute and maintenance costs, while the public instance has no SLA or permanent-free guarantee.
Can the public instance learn my location?
It processes any coordinates included in tool arguments, and a network service can generally observe IP and request timing. Avoid unnecessary precision and inspect both server and client logs.
Can it change data or execute actions for me?
The current weather tools read NWS information. They do not write to NWS or operate the local computer. Clients should still restrict server permissions and review upgrades.
Can it be my only severe-weather warning?
No. The public instance, network, agent, and NWS upstream can fail or lag. Use weather.gov, the local WFO, official wireless alerts, and emergency authorities for urgent conditions.
Does the NWS API require a key?
No API key is required, but an appropriate User-Agent is. Self-hosters should identify their client and use reasonable request rates.
Bottom Line
Cyanheads NWS Weather MCP Server v0.7.2 is a clearly bounded US weather reader: seven MCP tools, Apache-2.0 code, free self-hosting, and a convenient public endpoint with no SLA. The migration from the generic “United States Weather” title matters because this page now describes one concrete implementation instead of combining the NWS API and multiple community servers into a fictional single product. Minimize location precision and logging, self-host when control matters, and always return to official NWS and local emergency channels for life-safety decisions.