Get Zone Metadata

Zones endpoints:

## /zones ## /zones/{type} ## /zones/{type}/{zoneId}

The Zones endpoints let you look up NWS forecast, county, and fire weather zones and their metadata.

You can:

List zones, optionally filtered by state, region, or point location
Get metadata for a specific zone
Include polygon geometry for mapping
Use zone metadata with the Alerts API and other NWS endpoints

Headers & Auth

User-Agent (required): A string identifying your app and contact (for example, MyWeatherApp/1.0 (me@myweatherapp.com).

Accept (recommended): application/geo+json

Authorization: Not required.

HTTP Request

GET https://api.weather.gov/zones

List zones by type:

GET https://api.weather.gov/zones/{type}

Get metadata for a specific zone:

GET https://api.weather.gov/zones/{type}/{zoneId}

Path Parameters

These path parameters apply to GET /zones/{type} and GET /zones/{type}/{zoneId}.

Name	Type	Required	Description
type	string	Yes	Zone type. Common values include `forecast`, `county`, and `fire`.
zoneId	string	Yes (for `/zones/{type}/{zoneId}`)	Zone ID (for example, `ALZ023` for a forecast zone or `ALC125` for a county zone).

Query Parameters

The /zones and /zones/{type} endpoints support several filters

Query Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Applies to	Description
`id`	array*	No	`/zones`, `/zones/{type}`	One or more zone IDs (forecast or county). Useful when you already know the IDs.
`area`	array*	No	`/zones`, `/zones/{type}`	One or more state or marine area codes (for example, `NY` or a marine area code).
`region`	array*	No	`/zones`, `/zones/{type}`	One or more region codes.
`type`	array*	No	`/zones`, `/zones/{type}`	Zone types to include (for example, `forecast`, `county`, `fire`).
`point`	string	No	`/zones`, `/zones/{type}`	Latitude/longitude in `lat,lon` format (for example, `40.7128,-74.0060`). Returns containing zones.
`includfor exampleometry`	boolean	No	`/zones`, `/zones/{type}`	If `true`, includes polygon geometry for each zone.
`limit`	integer	No	`/zones`, `/zones/{type}`	Maximum number of zones to return.
`effective`	string	No	`/zones`, `/zones/{type}`, `/zones/{type}/{zoneId}`	Effective date/time (ISO-8601) to use when selecting zone versions.

Example Requests

cURL–List forecast zones for a state

Get forecast zones for New York, including geometry, limited to 50 results:

curl "https://api.weather.gov/zones/forecast?area=NY&includfor exampleometry=true&limit=50" 
  -H "User-Agent: MyWeatherApp/1.0 (me@myweatherapp.com)" 
  -H "Accept: application/geo+json"

cURL–Find zones that contain a point

Get any zones (all types) that contain a point near Tuscaloosa, AL:

curl "https://api.weather.gov/zones?point=33.212,-87.5459" 
  -H "User-Agent: MyWeatherApp/1.0 (me@myweatherapp.com)" 
  -H "Accept: application/geo+json"

JavaScript (fetch)–List forecast zones and log their names

const url = "https://api.weather.gov/zones/forecast?area=AL&limit=10";

fetch(url, {
  headers: {
    "User-Agent": "MyWeatherApp/1.0 (me@myweatherapp.com)",
    "Accept": "application/geo+json"
  }
})
  .then((response) => {
    if (!response.ok) {
      throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
    }
    return response.json();
  })
  .then((data) => {
    const zones = data.features || [];
    zones.forEach((feature) => {
      const props = feature.properties || {};
      console.log(`${props.id}: ${props.name} (${props.state || props.area})`);
    });
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error("Error fetching zones:", error);
  });

JavaScript (fetch)–Get metadata for a single zone

const zoneType = "forecast";
const zoneId = "ALZ023";
const url = `https://api.weather.gov/zones/${zoneType}/${zoneId}`;

fetch(url, {
  headers: {
    "User-Agent": "MyWeatherApp/1.0 (me@myweatherapp.com)",
    "Accept": "application/geo+json"
  }
})
  .then((response) => {
    if (!response.ok) {
      throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
    }
    return response.json();
  })
  .then((zone) => {
    console.log(zone.properties.name);
    console.log("Forecast URL:", zone.properties.forecast);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error("Error fetching zone:", error);
  });

Example responses

200 OK—List of forecast zones (truncated)

200 OK—List of forecast zones

{
  "@context": [
    "https://geojson.org/geojson-ld/geojson-context.jsonld",
    {
      "@version": "1.1",
      "wx": "https://api.weather.gov/ontology#",
      "s": "https://schema.org/",
      "@vocab": "https://api.weather.gov/ontology#"
    }
  ],
  "type": "FeatureCollection",
  "features": [
    {
      "id": "https://api.weather.gov/zones/forecast/ALZ023",
      "type": "Feature",
      "properties": {
        "id": "ALZ023",
        "type": "forecast",
        "name": "Tuscaloosa",
        "state": "AL",
        "effectiveDate": "2025-03-21T00:00:00+00:00",
        "expirationDate": null,
        "forecastOffice": "https://api.weather.gov/offices/BMX",
        "observationStations": "https://api.weather.gov/zones/forecast/ALZ023/stations"
      },
      "geometry": {
        "type": "Polygon",
        "coordinates": [
          [
            [-87.75, 33.40],
            [-87.30, 33.40],
            [-87.30, 33.05],
            [-87.75, 33.05],
            [-87.75, 33.40]
          ]
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "next": "https://api.weather.gov/zones/forecast?area=AL&limit=50&cursor=abc123",
    "prev": null
  }
}

200 OK—Zone metadata

200 OK—Single zone metadata

{
  "@context": [
    "https://geojson.org/geojson-ld/geojson-context.jsonld",
    {
      "@version": "1.1",
      "wx": "https://api.weather.gov/ontology#",
      "s": "https://schema.org/",
      "@vocab": "https://api.weather.gov/ontology#"
    }
  ],
  "id": "https://api.weather.gov/zones/forecast/ALZ023",
  "type": "Feature",
  "properties": {
    "id": "ALZ023",
    "type": "forecast",
    "name": "Tuscaloosa",
    "state": "AL",
    "effectiveDate": "2025-03-21T00:00:00+00:00",
    "expirationDate": null,
    "forecastOffice": "https://api.weather.gov/offices/BMX",
    "relatedZones": {
      "county": "https://api.weather.gov/zones/county/ALC125",
      "fireWeatherZone": "https://api.weather.gov/zones/fire/ALZ023"
    }
  },
  "geometry": {
    "type": "Polygon",
    "coordinates": [
      [
        [-87.75, 33.40],
        [-87.30, 33.40],
        [-87.30, 33.05],
        [-87.75, 33.05],
        [-87.75, 33.40]
      ]
    ]
  }
}

Status Codes

Status	Meaning	When you’ll see it
`200 OK`	Successful request	Zones or zone metadata returned.
`400 Bad Request`	Invalid parameter or format	For example, malformed `point` or invalid `effective` date/time.
`404 Not Found`	Resource not found	Unknown `type` or `zoneId`.
`406 Not Acceptable`	Unsupported `Accept` header	Requesting a format the endpoint doesn’t support.
`429 Too Many Requests`	Rate limit exceeded	Too many requests in a short time window.
`500 Internal Server Error` / `503 Service Unavailable`	Server-side issues	Temporary API or upstream data problems.

Notes & Tips

Pair zones with alerts. The Alerts API uses affectedZones to list the zones for each alert. Use the Zones endpoints to understand or map those areas. (National Weather Service)
Use point for geolocation. If you have a latitude/longitude, the point query parameter can return zones that contain that location. This is handy if you’re building “what zone am I in?” features.
Be careful with includfor exampleometry. Zone polygons can be large and add significant response size. Turn geometry on only when you need it (for example, when drawing maps).
Limit results. Always use limit when listing zones to avoid large payloads and to stay within rate limits.