A Guide to Europe’s Open Weather Data Portals

Open Data
Climate Science
A guide to official meteorological-data portals across Europe and the common access requirements introduced by the EU High-Value Datasets framework.
Author

Climate Explorer Team

Published

March 9, 2026

Decorative digital illustration of Europe with weather symbols, data connections and meteorological instruments.

Stylized illustration of connected meteorological-data services across Europe. Image credit: Climate Explorer Team.

Europe’s open-data framework changed significantly with Directive (EU) 2019/1024, which established the legal basis for High-Value Datasets, and with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138, which specified the dataset categories and the publication requirements.

The HVD regulation requires certain public datasets to be made available free of charge, in machine-readable formats, through APIs, and, where relevant, via bulk download. Meteorological data is one of the six HVD themes and includes weather-station observations, validated climate observations, radar data, weather warnings, and numerical weather prediction data. Those publication and re-use requirements applied from 9 June 2024.

What Portal Availability Does—and Does Not—Show

National services expose meteorological data through different combinations of APIs, bulk files, catalogues, download portals and human-readable tables. Authentication, documentation and archive coverage also vary by service and dataset.

This article is an access guide, not a country compliance ranking. The existence of a portal does not by itself prove that every meteorological dataset within the HVD regulation is available with the required licence, format, metadata, update frequency and access method. The examples below therefore document practical entry points without assigning national maturity scores.

The RODEO Project: Building Shared Infrastructure

One initiative supporting this transition was the RODEO project, which ran from 2023 through 2025. RODEO was a joint effort involving EUMETNET, ECMWF, and 11 national meteorological services, led by the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

Its stated goal was to help meteorological services comply with the HVD rules by developing shared infrastructure, including APIs, catalogues, and support for national data portals. According to the project FAQ, RODEO ran from 1 January 2023 through 31 December 2025. This guide identifies access points associated with that wider transition but does not independently certify that every planned RODEO deliverable was operational at the project’s end.

Country-by-Country: Accessing Meteorological Open Data

All 27 EU Member States and Switzerland provide at least some public meteorological information, but they do not provide equivalent data access. Some national services operate comprehensive APIs and bulk-download portals; others publish only selected real-time products, use national open-data catalogues, run experimental services, or still handle important historical datasets by request. Tools such as the Climate Explorer can help readers find and explore some of these national sources.

Within Climate Explorer, the clearest country-level examples are the DWD, Météo-France, and IMGW sections, which show how different national services expose their station archives in practice.

These access points are not operationally identical. Some offer anonymous bulk download, some require API keys or registration, and others expose selected datasets or landing pages rather than raw file directories. Those differences affect practical reuse, but they should not be interpreted as a complete legal-compliance assessment.

Selected Official Public Access Points

The links below were checked on 12 July 2026. Dataset coverage and access requirements can change, so readers should consult each provider’s current documentation.

  • Norway: Provides open observation and climate data through the Frost API.
  • Netherlands: Provides meteorological datasets through the KNMI Developer Portal, including the EDR API and Open Data API. API keys are required for requests.
  • Finland: Provides machine-readable meteorological data free of charge through FMI Open Data.
  • Austria: Provides station and spatial datasets through the GeoSphere Austria Data Hub.
  • Belgium: Provides open observations and related meteorological datasets through the Royal Meteorological Institute’s open-data portal.
  • Denmark: Provides a direct Meteorological Observation API through DMI’s open-data services.
  • Hungary: Provides public meteorological archive and open data access, including observation series, through HungaroMet’s data archive and open data tree.
  • Poland: Provides public meteorological observation data and API access through IMGW’s public-data service.
  • Romania: Provides latest station parameters through the national open-data portal data.gov.ro. The National Meteorological Administration also operates an INSPIRE catalogue for spatial datasets and services.
  • Latvia: Publishes environmental and meteorological catalogue records through the national open-data portal data.gov.lv. Individual records should be checked for their current format, licence and delivery service.
  • Iceland: While not an EU Member State, provides public weather-station observations in human-readable tables through the Icelandic Meteorological Office en.vedur.is/weather/stations/.

Access Beyond the RODEO Group

Other European nations outside the immediate RODEO group also maintain public access points:

Concrete Examples: From Policy to Code

To make the difference between legal openness and practical access more tangible, here are three real machine-readable entry points:

These examples show different delivery patterns: a public file server in Germany and structured observation APIs in Denmark and Sweden. They demonstrate practical access options, not complete national compliance with every HVD requirement.

Conclusion

The core takeaway is that Europe now has a common legal framework for specified meteorological high-value datasets and a growing collection of national access points.

The portals remain operationally diverse: they use different authentication models, interfaces, documentation systems and archive structures. This guide helps readers locate official services, but a defensible comparison of national compliance would require a separate dataset-by-dataset assessment of licensing, formats, metadata, timeliness, APIs and bulk-download availability.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What are High-Value Datasets (HVDs) under EU regulation?

Under Regulation (EU) 2023/138, specified High-Value Datasets must be made available free of charge, under an open licence and in machine-readable formats. Access arrangements depend on the dataset: APIs are required, while bulk download applies where specified or appropriate; meteorological numerical weather prediction model data is an API-only case under the regulation.

When did the EU High-Value Dataset rules apply to meteorological data?

Member States were required to comply with the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138 requirements for High-Value Datasets from 9 June 2024.

What is the RODEO project?

The RODEO project was a European co-funded initiative that ran from 1 January 2023 through 31 December 2025 and involved EUMETNET, ECMWF, and 11 national meteorological services. Its stated goal was to develop shared API infrastructure and catalogues to help national meteorological services comply with the HVD requirements.

Do these portals prove that every country fully complies with the HVD rules?

No. A portal can demonstrate that particular datasets are accessible, but a complete compliance assessment must also verify dataset scope, licensing, machine-readable formats, metadata, documentation, timeliness, APIs and applicable bulk-download access. This guide does not assign country-level compliance ratings.

Data Annex

Official meteorological data access points were reviewed for all 27 EU Member States and Switzerland. Access is not uniform: the existence of a portal does not mean that every station observation, historical series, radar product or forecast model is openly available. Each entry below describes the observed public access route, not a legal determination of compliance with the EU High-Value Datasets rules.

The classifications used here are Comprehensive API/portal, Partial or selected datasets, Experimental/emerging, Request-based or fragmented, and No comparable portal found. They describe practical accessibility as checked on 12 July 2026.

Country National service / public access point Practical access classification Evidence URL (checked 12 July 2026)
Austria GeoSphere Austria Data Hub Comprehensive API/portal https://data.hub.geosphere.at/
Belgium RMI/KMI Open Data Comprehensive API/portal https://opendata.meteo.be/
Bulgaria NIMH Experimental Open Data Portal Experimental/emerging https://www.meteo.bg/meteo/en/node/1345
Croatia DHMZ XML products and climate tables Partial or selected datasets; additional archive data may require a request or payment https://www.meteo.hr/proizvodi.php?param=xml_korisnici&section=podaci
Cyprus Department of Meteorology station-observation API Partial or selected datasets; current observations from 38 stations https://www.data.gov.cy/el/dataset/trehoyses-katagrafes-meteorologikon-stathmon-api
Czechia CHMI Open Data Comprehensive API/portal https://opendata.chmi.cz/meteorology/
Denmark DMI Open Data API Comprehensive API/portal, including APIs and bulk downloads https://www.dmi.dk/friedata/dokumentation-paa-engelsk
Estonia Environment Agency weather data and Environmental Portal Comprehensive API/portal, including XML, CSV and bulk machine-readable data https://www.ilmateenistus.ee/teenused/ilmainfo/?lang=en
Finland FMI Open Data Comprehensive API/portal using WFS/WMS and downloads https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/open-data
France Météo-France Open Data Comprehensive API/portal; services are being migrated to newer portals https://donneespubliques.meteofrance.fr/
Germany DWD Open Data and Climate Data Center Comprehensive API/portal with anonymous bulk directories and geospatial services https://www.dwd.de/EN/ourservices/opendata/opendata.html
Greece Hellenic National Meteorological Service digital services Partial or selected datasets; public API scope and reuse conditions are less clearly documented https://api.emy.gr/
Hungary HungaroMet Meteorological Data Repository Comprehensive API/portal; repository contents continue to expand https://odp.met.hu/
Ireland Met Éireann Open Data Comprehensive API/portal, including observations, forecasts, radar and EDR access https://www.met.ie/about-us/specialised-services/open-data
Italy ItaliaMeteo, Air Force Meteorological Service and regional agencies Request-based or fragmented; national model data are open but observations remain distributed https://www.dati.gov.it/node/view-dataset/dataset?id=9e46be8d-2da2-44e0-a635-98cbb40dc4ef
Latvia LEGMC datasets in the Latvian Open Data Portal Comprehensive API/portal through the national catalogue https://data.gov.lv/dati/lv/dataset/?organization=lvgmc&res_format=CSV&tags=Meteorolo%C4%A3iskie+dati
Lithuania LHMT Meteo.lt API Comprehensive API/portal, including forecasts and recent station history https://api.meteo.lt/
Luxembourg MeteoLux High-Value Dataset API Partial or selected datasets, principally minute observations from Luxembourg-Findel https://www.meteolux.lu/fr/actualites/mise-a-disposition-de-donnees-de-fortes-valeurs-hvd/
Malta Malta Meteorological Office No comparable documented observation API or bulk-download portal found https://www.maltairport.com/weather/
Netherlands KNMI Data Platform Comprehensive API/portal for observations, climate, radar, satellite and model data https://english.knmidata.nl/open-data
Poland IMGW-PIB Public Data Comprehensive API/portal with current and historical downloads https://danepubliczne.imgw.pl/
Portugal IPMA API Comprehensive API/portal for forecasts, recent observations and selected climate data https://api.ipma.pt/
Romania ANM API/XML products and INSPIRE catalogue Partial or selected datasets; comprehensive observations and specialised archives are not all openly downloadable https://www.meteoromania.ro/
Slovakia SHMÚ Open Data server Experimental/emerging; service availability and documentation remain limited https://opendata.shmu.sk/
Slovenia ARSO WebMet and XML/RSS/HTML feeds Partial or selected datasets; no clearly documented comprehensive archive API found https://meteo.arso.gov.si/met/en/app/webmet/
Spain AEMET OpenData Comprehensive API/portal; a free API key is required https://www.aemet.es/en/datos_abiertos
Sweden SMHI Open Data Comprehensive API/portal for meteorological, hydrological and climate data https://opendata.smhi.se/metobs/introduction
Switzerland MeteoSwiss Open Government Data Comprehensive API/portal for observations, forecasts and climate datasets https://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/services-and-publications/service/open-data.html
European Legislation Reference URL Description
Directive (EU) 2019/1024 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/1024/oj Open data and the re-use of public sector information
Regulation (EU) 2023/138 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2023/138/oj Specific High-Value Datasets and arrangements

Data Sources