Reference · built on requestCommons signalAir, water & environment

AWDB REST API (SNOTEL and SCAN)

Snowpack, precipitation, soil moisture, and water supply forecasts from USDA NRCS SNOTEL and SCAN stations.

Request accessPricing ↗

About

The AWDB REST API is the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service's public interface to the Air and Water Database kept by the National Water and Climate Center. It serves SNOTEL snowpack and climate stations across the West, Soil Climate Analysis Network stations in agricultural areas, snow courses, streamflow and reservoir stations, 30-year normals, and the water supply forecasts NRCS issues from January to June.

An operator on Fibric reads the stations and elements you name and proposes a staffing, dispatch, or outlook change when a value crosses your trigger. You approve the change, and the record shows the triplet, element, and value behind it.

This is a reference listing. It documents what Fibric would read from AWDB REST API (SNOTEL and SCAN) and what it could propose, based on the publisher's published interfaces. Fibric builds it under a managed deployment when you request it; selecting it here installs nothing.

Inputs

  • Station readings from /services/v1/data by stationTriplet, element, and duration: HOURLY, DAILY, SEMIMONTHLY, MONTHLY, CALENDAR_YEAR, WATER_YEAR
  • Snow water equivalent (WTEQ), snow depth (SNWD), and precipitation accumulation (PREC) at SNOTEL and SNOLITE sites
  • Soil moisture percent (SMS) and soil temperature (STO) by depth at SCAN and Tribal SCAN stations
  • Water supply forecasts from /services/v1/forecasts by publication date, forecast period, and exceedance probability
  • Station metadata from /services/v1/stations filtered by name, county, HUC, or element, with reservoir and forecast point details
  • Reference lists from /services/v1/reference-data: networks, elements, durations, forecastPeriods, units, states
  • A 30-year median or average beside each value through centralTendencyType

Proposed actions

Read-only. This feed informs operators; it changes nothing.

Proposed actions are target capabilities. Every action runs propose-first and needs a validated deployment and the appropriate permissions.

What you can build

  • Staff up before a powder day

    Read hourly snow depth and snow water equivalent at the SNOTEL site nearest a mountain operation. When the overnight change passes your trigger, the operator proposes added shifts for review.

    With Event Surge

  • Plan the season on the water supply forecast

    Read the forecast point for your basin each month from January to June. The operator proposes an outlook revision that shows each exceedance value and the publication date.

    With Demand Outlook

  • Hold field work on saturated ground

    Read soil moisture percent at the SCAN station near a job. When it exceeds the limit you set, the operator proposes moving the crew to another site.

    With Field Dispatch

Requirements

  • A station triplet for each site, in the form station id, state code, network code, such as 302:OR:SNTL
  • Element codes with a height or depth where it matters, for example SMS at each soil depth
  • A forecast point triplet if you use water supply forecasts; not every station is a forecast point
Authentication
No key. The REST endpoints under /awdbRestApi/services/v1 answer anonymous GET requests.

Limits

  • Water supply forecasts are issued near the first of the month, January through June, not continuously
  • Extended-range air temperature sensors at continental US SNOTEL sites carry a documented bias that NRCS is still correcting
  • Values can be edited after the fact; pass returnOriginalValues and returnFlags to see edits and flags
  • No rate limit or service level is published; the Terms of Use provide the service as is, without warranty

Access and pricing

Reference listing. Public feed access is separate from Fibric integration. If you request this feed, your quote covers the build, usage, and support.

Request AWDB REST API (SNOTEL and SCAN) ↗

Questions and answers

How do you identify a station?
By a triplet of station id, state code, and network code separated by colons, such as 302:OR:SNTL. The stations endpoint accepts wildcards, filters by county, HUC, and element, and returns only active stations unless activeOnly is false.
How often do SNOTEL sites report?
NRCS says most SNOTEL and SCAN stations report at least every few hours, and some every hour. The data endpoint serves HOURLY, DAILY, SEMIMONTHLY, MONTHLY, CALENDAR_YEAR, and WATER_YEAR durations.
What is in a water supply forecast?
A seasonal streamflow volume for a forecast point, published near the first of the month from January to June at several exceedance probabilities. The forecasts endpoint filters by publication date, forecast period, and exceedance probability.
Ask about AWDB REST API (SNOTEL and SCAN)

Ask about the capabilities and requirements in this listing.

For project-specific requirements, contact Fibric.

This Commons signal listing is developed, published, and supported by Fibric. It reads public data published by USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Water and Climate Center (wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov). Upstream agencies and projects are the property of their respective owners, who are not affiliated with Fibric and do not sponsor or endorse this listing. Trademark policy