Tempest Weather Skill

Fetches on-demand weather data from a WeatherFlow Tempest station via the REST API and returns clean, structured JSON.

Configuration

Credentials are read from environment variables — never hardcoded:

Env Var	Description
TEMPEST_TOKEN	Personal Access Token from tempestwx.com → Settings → Data Authorizations
TEMPEST_STATION_ID	Numeric station ID (find it by calling the /stations endpoint with your token)

If either env var is missing, inform the user and show them how to set them:

export TEMPEST_TOKEN="your_token_here"
export TEMPEST_STATION_ID="your_station_id_here"

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Primary Endpoint

GET https://swd.weatherflow.com/swd/rest/observations/station/{STATION_ID}?token={TEMPEST_TOKEN}

This returns the latest observation for the station, including all sensor data.

Fallback (by device): GET https://swd.weatherflow.com/swd/rest/observations/?device_id={DEVICE_ID}&token={TEMPEST_TOKEN}

To list available stations/devices: GET https://swd.weatherflow.com/swd/rest/stations?token={TEMPEST_TOKEN}

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Workflow

1. Check for credentials — If the user hasn't provided a token and station ID, ask for them.
2. Fetch the observation — Use bash (curl) or Python to call the REST endpoint.
3. Parse the response — Extract the relevant fields from obs (see field reference below).
4. Return structured JSON — Output a clean, normalized JSON object (see Output Schema).
5. Handle errors gracefully — 401 = bad token, 404 = station not found, empty obs = no data yet.

Fetching with curl

curl -s "https://swd.weatherflow.com/swd/rest/observations/station/${STATION_ID}?token=${TEMPEST_TOKEN}"

Fetching with Python

import requests, json

url = f"https://swd.weatherflow.com/swd/rest/observations/station/{STATION_ID}"
resp = requests.get(url, params={"token": TEMPEST_TOKEN})
resp.raise_for_status()
data = resp.json()

---

Output Schema

Always return data in this normalized JSON structure:

{
  "station_id": 12345,
  "station_name": "My Backyard",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-15T14:32:00Z",
  "timestamp_epoch": 1705329120,
  "conditions": {
    "temperature_c": 18.5,
    "temperature_f": 65.3,
    "humidity_pct": 62,
    "pressure_mb": 1013.4,
    "pressure_trend": "steady"
  },
  "wind": {
    "speed_avg_ms": 3.2,
    "speed_avg_mph": 7.2,
    "speed_lull_ms": 1.1,
    "speed_gust_ms": 5.8,
    "speed_gust_mph": 13.0,
    "direction_deg": 247,
    "direction_cardinal": "WSW"
  },
  "precipitation": {
    "rain_accumulated_mm": 0.0,
    "rain_daily_mm": 2.4,
    "precip_type": "none",
    "precip_analysis": "rain_check_on"
  },
  "lightning": {
    "strike_count": 0,
    "avg_distance_km": null
  },
  "solar": {
    "uv_index": 3,
    "solar_radiation_wm2": 412,
    "illuminance_lux": 28500
  },
  "battery_volts": 2.42,
  "data_source": "tempest_rest_api"
}

---

Field Reference

See references/obs_fields.md for the complete field mapping from Tempest API array indices to human-readable names, units, and conversion formulas.

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Conversion Helpers

• °C → °F: (C * 9/5) + 32
• m/s → mph: ms * 2.237
• Degrees → Cardinal: Read the lookup table in references/obs_fields.md
• Precip type codes: 0 = none, 1 = rain, 2 = hail
• Precip analysis codes: 0 = none, 1 = rain_check_on, 2 = rain_check_off

---

Error Handling

HTTP Status	Meaning	Action
200	Success	Parse and return data
401	Invalid token	Ask user to re-check their token
403	Forbidden	Token doesn't have access to that station
404	Station not found	Ask user to confirm their station ID
200 + empty obs	No data	Station may be offline; inform user

If obs is an empty array or null, report: "Station found but no recent observations available — the device may be offline."

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Example User Interactions

"What's the weather at my Tempest station?" → Fetch latest obs, return full JSON output.

"Is it raining?" → Fetch obs, check precipitation.precip_type and precipitation.rain_accumulated_mm, return focused JSON.

"Any lightning nearby?" → Fetch obs, check lightning.strike_count and lightning.avg_distance_km, return lightning sub-object.

"How windy is it?" → Return wind sub-object including gust, lull, avg, direction.