Visual Crossing’s Timeline Weather API is a simple, affordable, and highly compatible alternative to the Weather Underground API. While it used to be free, the Weather Underground API now has only paid tiers, making it unsustainable for data scientists with smaller budgets.
Our Timeline Weather API has a generous free request limit and can be easily integrated into any existing application or script. The API supports historical, current, and forecast weather data in JSON or CSV format, making it a great choice for any application.
This guide will explain how to transition to the Timeline API from Weather Underground, including how to parse weather data results into JSON format.
Quick Steps to Replace the Weather Underground API
To begin, sign up for a Visual Crossing Weather account. Signing up is free, but you can also choose to pay for additional features, like specialized forecasts. You will then click the orange Account button in the upper right, where you’ll find your API key at the bottom of the page. Copy this, then go into your existing code.
Look for the WU API key, which will be included in a URL. You will then replace your old API key with the new API key in the following format:
https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline/<YOUR_TARGET_LOCATION>?key=<YOUR_API_KEY>
You can then parse the results into a JSON format. For more details, please review our API documentation, which shows examples of the JSON results.
Why Is the Timeline Weather API an Ideal Weather Underground API Replacement?
The primary reason you may want to use the Visual Crossing Timeline API instead of the Weather Underground API is that we offer both free and paid plans depending on your needs. Previously, the Weather Underground API had a free tier, but they have now removed this and only offer paid tiers.
With a free key from Visual Crossing, you can make up to 1,000 requests a day, awhich are vailable on your dashboard. TTheresults will include temperature, rain, humidity, wind speed, and more.
Our pay-as-you-go pricing model ensures you never have to pay more than necessary for your specific needs, and pricing is very affordable. For example, professionals can query up to 10,000,000 records a month for just $35. We also offer enterprise modeling that provides unlimited queries, specialized reports, and unlimited users.
The Timeline API is user-friendly, eliminating the need for complicated setup and coding. With our API, you can receive both hourly and daily weather data in one call using only a specified location and date. The API’s dynamic time period placeholders, like “yesterday” or “next7days,” are both intuitive and flexible, reducing errors and ensuring you receive the correct data every time you run the query.
We provide a streamlined JSON output for all queries that is ready for any development environment. JSON is compatible with most programming languages, including Python and JavaScript, reducing the need to parse or clean up the output.
The API can return a CSV result if this is more convenient for you. CSV downloads are also available via the web-based weather query interface.
Many personal weather station (PWS) owners utilized the WU API service because they could include their own weather station in data packages, ensuring the most up-to-date local weather conditions and alerts. Visual Crossing also accommodates PWS uploaders and utilizes their weather information in sub-hourly forecasts. You can find out more about our sources on our Data Sources and Attribution page.
Get started with the Timeline Weather API in Five Minutes
You can start your first weather data query in less than 5 minutes. There is nothing to install or download onto your personal system. When you sign up, you’ll immediately receive access to your API key in your account information, which allows you to make 1,000 free requests.
To begin, sign up for a free account. You can run queries using our web-based tool and your API key, which is found on your Account page.
The greatest benefit of the Timeline Weather API is running automated queries in an application, webpage, or database. Using the API key from your dashboard, you can continually update your weather app, script, or table with the most comprehensive weather dataset available.
We offer extensive documentation that will help you formulate any type of weather request you may need. Let’s review a few simple examples and break down the URLs so you have a better idea of what our services offer.
Every query starts with this baseline URL:
https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline/
This lets our servers know you want to use the timeline API. You can then add the parameters you need based on the query you’re performing. The path for any query will be the same, except that you will switch out parameters based on what you need.
The first parameter is the specific location that you want to review, and the second is your API key.
https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline/<YOUR_TARGET_LOCATION>?key=<YOUR_API_KEY>
For location, you should use the city name and state code, like “Chicago,IL.” For locations outside of the US, you can use the city name and country, such as “London,UK.”
You will also need to replace <YOUR_API_KEY> with the API key found in your Visual Crossing Weather account details.
In this example, we’ll look at the weather for Washington, DC, for the next 15 days. This is the standard forecast, so you don’t need to include any time parameters. If you don’t specify a date, Visual Crossing’s Weather Engine will default to a 15-day forecast, and it will automatically update with the most recent information.
https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline/Washington,DC?key=<YOUR_API_KEY>
You can also use dynamic time placeholders to get certain responses, such as “yesterday” and “next7days.” This ensures you always get the right date if you are linking your API key to a database or application.
For example, this simple API query will give you Washington, DC’s weather for yesterday in both daily and hourly resolutions. You insert “yesterday” before your API key.
https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline/Washington,DC/yesterday?key=<YOUR_API_KEY>
However, the Timeline Weather API can also handle much more complicated queries, offering a perfect balance between sophistication and simplicity. In this next example, we are requesting the weather for the entire year of 2025. Since 2025 is not yet over, the API must use a blend of historical weather data, forecasting, and typical weather averages in order to complete the request.
To do this, we will specify the start date as 2025-01-01 and the end date as 2025-12-31. Please note that you must put the ranges in YYYY-MM-DD format in the URL to get the correct result.
https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline/Washington,DC/2025-01-01/2025-12-31?key= <YOUR_API_KEY>
Timeline Weather will automatically understand that you want past, present, and future forecasts. You do not need to change any formats; the API does everything for you.
How the API Handles Complex Date Ranges
The Timeline Weather API system pulls data from numerous sources depending on your specific time range. Historical data, current weather conditions, forecast data, and modeled estimates are seamlessly blended into a single JSON result.
Our process is automatic; you don’t have to change query parameters or data formats to include both historical, near-future, and future forecasting.
Let’s consider the yearly Washington, DC, example to see how one query can deliver multiple data types in one singular result.
As this article was written in April 2025, the portion from January to mid-April was pulled from historical records. The current conditions were drawn from local weather stations near Washington, DC, and forecasting for the rest of April was drawn from the 15-day forecast.
The rest of the year, from May to December, falls outside of the standard forecast window. As such, the Weather Engine uses a historical weather database to model expected conditions. This database comes from various sources, like the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which are listed on our attribution page.
It’s important to note that the further away your requested result is, the lower the accuracy you will receive. While Weather Engine is extremely accurate, it must rely on historical averages, which may not perfectly predict conditions at a given time and place.
This example shows how one simple weather query can combine the power of various weather sources to supply a lot of valuable weather data for any worldwide location. Of course, this is just the beginning of the useful queries you can run using the Timeline Weather API.
What if I need to replace another Weather API?
The Timeline Weather API can replace an API from any other weather company. We provide a consistent data structure, extensive coverage, and developer-friendly integration options.
Whether you’re logging temperatures for an environmental science project, building your own weather app, or simply want the most reliable weather data available on any device, Timeline Weather API is the superior choice to Weather Underground or any other system.
We provide comprehensive guides for transitioning from many other weather APIs, including The Dark Sky API, Yahoo Weather API, OpenWeatherMap API, and Google Weather API. You can also message our support team for more in-depth guidance on replacing another API.
Summary
The Visual Crossing Weather Timeline API is the best weather data API for those seeking a replacement for the Weather Underground Weather API. It provides an easy and free way to obtain weather forecasts for any location worldwide.
Weather Timeline API supports a full range of weather data types, including historical records and long-range forecasts. Its intuitive querying model means you don’t need to change formats for different requests, which ensures easier data handling and greater flexibility.
Our API service’s low cost is ideal for individuals, developers, and businesses alike. We also offer customizable plans for enterprise needs. Contact us to discuss your needs, and we’ll find the perfect solution for your organization.
The intuitive functionality, modern dashboard, and affordable format make it easier than ever for both weather enthusiasts and professionals to access high-quality data. If you’ve been looking for a new API after The Weather Company removed free WU API access, we’re here to help upgrade your weather API experience.
Questions or need help?
If you have a question or need help, please post on our actively monitored forum for the fastest replies. You can also contact our Support Team.