How to Find and Download European Station Weather Data

A reproducible EuroMeteo workflow for selecting a WIGOS station, setting a UTC period, interpreting observations, and exporting processed station data to CSV or Excel.
Author

Climate Explorer Team

Modified

August 27, 2026

Open the EuroMeteo Explorer

Current EuroMeteo interface showing country, station, UTC-period and map-parameter controls beside colored European station observations for 27 June 2026 at 09:00 UTC

EuroMeteo map with station observations plotted across Europe

Use this guide when your goal is to retrieve observations for a named station. The EuroMeteo Explorer owns the interactive map; the companion article explains what MeteoGate and E-SOH change about cross-border access.

Quick start

  1. Open EuroMeteo and choose Zoom to Country.
  2. Under Find Station, search by station name or WIGOS identifier.
  3. Set the start and end dates under Select Period. Times are shown in UTC.
  4. Open Dashboard, confirm the station name, WIGOS ID, reporting frequency, and requested dates.
  5. Inspect Plots and Data, then select CSV or Excel.

The result is a station-level table for the selected period. It is not a regional average, a forecast, or an official record determination.

What EuroMeteo serves

EuroMeteo is an independent Climate Explorer application built from the EUMETNET MeteoGate European surface-observation service. Climate Explorer is not affiliated with EUMETNET or the participating national meteorological services.

EuroMeteo data available in the Explorer
Item What you receive
Observation source E-SOH station observations exposed through MeteoGate
Time reference UTC timestamps
Local archive 5 March 2026 onward
Map variables Air temperature, precipitation amount, mean-sea-level pressure, and wind speed
Station dashboard Every supported variable reported for that station and period, which may include temperature, humidity, precipitation, pressure, wind, visibility, radiation, snow, soil, or marine observations
Export formats CSV and Excel (.xlsx)

Station and variable availability can change upstream. A station appearing in the catalogue does not guarantee that every variable exists at every timestamp.

Complete workflow: Madrid Retiro

This worked example uses MADRID, RETIRO, WIGOS ID 0-20000-0-08222. A WIGOS identifier is the stable station identifier used to distinguish sites that may have similar names.

1. Select the station

  1. In Zoom to Country, select Spain.
  2. Open Find Station.
  3. Search for 0-20000-0-08222 rather than relying only on the city name.
  4. Select MADRID, RETIRO and confirm the identifier in the Dashboard banner.

You can also open Stations Info and search the catalogue. Double-click a desktop row, or tap a station card on a smaller screen, to select it and open the dashboard.

2. Set a reproducible period

Enter a start and end date in Select Period. The standard range is limited to 31 days. When a station reports data at 10-minute or finer intervals, EuroMeteo may shorten the effective request to 15 days; the Dashboard banner shows the detected frequency and active limit.

Record all four pieces of context before comparing or citing a value:

  • station name and WIGOS ID;
  • start and end date;
  • observation timestamp in UTC;
  • variable and displayed unit.

3. Read the map correctly

Choose one Map Parameter, then use the hour control below the map. Marker colors represent station values available for the chosen UTC hour. They are not a continuous gridded field between stations.

The Showing count is the number of stations with a usable value for the selected parameter and hour within the active country filter. It can be lower than stations found because reports arrive at different times or a station does not publish that variable.

4. Inspect plots and table rows

Open Dashboard. The Plots view groups available variables into readable charts; the Data view exposes the processed rows used by those charts. Blank cells mean no usable value is available after retrieval and the Explorer’s checks.

EuroMeteo dashboard showing the Paris-Montsouris WIGOS ID, selected UTC period, six-minute reporting frequency, CSV and Excel buttons, and temperature and humidity charts

Current EuroMeteo dashboard for Paris-Montsouris with station identity, UTC period, reporting frequency, CSV and Excel controls, and temperature and humidity plots

The screenshot shows a different station, but the same identity-and-period checks apply to Madrid Retiro or any other selection.

5. Export CSV or Excel

Select CSV for scripts and plain-text workflows, or Excel for a workbook with a Station Data sheet. The filename records the WIGOS ID and requested date range.

The first column is datetime. Remaining columns depend on what that station reported. Do not assume that two station exports have identical columns.

The export is processed, not untouched upstream data

EuroMeteo standardizes parameter names, converts supported values into display units, selects one preferred reporting variant when duplicates exist, and applies site-level plausibility and spike checks. Some dew-point values can be calculated from temperature and relative humidity when no dew point is supplied. Values rejected by these checks become blank. Use the official MeteoGate API or the original national publisher when you need untouched source records, provider flags, or an auditable operational product.

Interpreting core export fields

The unit shown in an export header comes from the API when the source supplies one. The values below are the Explorer’s normal display units, not a guarantee that every provider publishes every field in exactly that form.

Core EuroMeteo station-export fields
Export field(s) Meaning Normal display unit Check before reuse
datetime Observation timestamp UTC Do not convert to local time without recording the zone
temperature, tempMin, tempMax Air temperature and reported interval extrema °C Confirm sensor height and interval when material
tempMinGround, tempMin50cm, surfaceTemperature Ground-level, depth-specific or surface temperature °C Do not treat these as sheltered air temperature
dewPoint, humidity, virtualTemperature Moisture and thermodynamic fields °C or % Dew point can be derived from temperature and humidity when it is absent upstream
precipitation, precipitation1h, precipitation3h, precipitation6h, precipitation12h, precipitation24h Source amount or duration-specific accumulation mm Keep the accumulation duration; the fields are not interchangeable
lwePrecipitationRate, rainfallRate Liquid-water-equivalent or rainfall rate mm/h A rate is not an accumulation
snowDepth, snowFresh Snow lying and fresh snow cm Confirm the source interval for fresh snow
windSpeed, windSpeed2m, windGust, windGustInst Wind and gust fields m/s Retain measurement height and averaging/gust interval when known
windDirection, windGustDirection Direction from which wind or gust came degrees Treat calm or missing direction carefully
pressure, pressureStation, pressureTendency Mean-sea-level pressure, station pressure and pressure change hPa or hPa/3h Do not compare station and sea-level pressure as the same quantity
cloudCover, cloudCoverLow, cloudBaseAltitude, visibility Cloud and visibility fields %, m Coverage and cloud-base height describe different properties
solarRadiation, sunshine-duration fields Radiation flux and sunshine duration W/m² or min Preserve duration suffixes such as 10m, 1h, 3h, 6h, 12h and 24h
ultravioletIndex, evapotranspiration UV index and potential evapotranspiration index, mm Confirm the provider interval and method
soilTemp10cm, soilTemp20cm, soilTemp50cm Depth-specific soil temperature °C Compare only like depths

Specialist and provider-specific fields

Conditional EuroMeteo fields retained when supplied by the API
Field group Examples Normal display unit Interpretation
Radiation components shortwave, longwave, direct, diffuse or infrared flux fields W/m² Flux components are separate quantities and should retain their API names
Marine observations sea-surface temperature, significant wave height, wave period °C, m, s Available only from suitable marine platforms or providers
Radar-related surface fields reflectivity dBZ A conditional provider field, not a replacement for the OPERA radar explorer
Other provider parameters normalized camelCase name derived from the API key API-supplied unit EuroMeteo can preserve an otherwise unmapped standard name; inspect the header and upstream metadata before reuse

Two exports can legitimately have different columns because station equipment, reporting programs and national-provider mappings differ.

A safe cross-border comparison

To compare two stations, repeat the same workflow for each one and keep the parameter, UTC window, and accumulation duration identical. Note the WIGOS IDs and elevations. A warmer value at one station can reflect elevation, coastline, urban setting, exposure, or reporting time; it does not by itself describe an entire country.

For long-term trends or climatological anomalies, use a historical archive such as GHCNm monthly data or WMO climate normals. EuroMeteo’s short archive is intended for observation monitoring.

Troubleshooting

The station is missing

Clear the country filter, then search by the full WIGOS ID.

The Dashboard is empty

Confirm the station, period, and whether its catalogue entry lists the requested parameter.

The requested start date changes

The application may have detected high-frequency data and applied the 15-day limit.

The newest hour has few markers

Reporting latency varies; move to an earlier UTC hour before concluding that coverage is absent.

Precipitation columns disagree

Check the accumulation suffix (1h, 3h, 6h, 12h, or 24h). They are different measurements, not interchangeable duplicates.

CSV columns shift in a spreadsheet

Use the Excel export or import the CSV explicitly as UTF-8 with comma separators.

A value is blank

The source may not have reported it, or the Explorer may have rejected it during site-level checks.

Official sources and next steps

After exporting, retain the download date and the selected WIGOS ID with your analysis. For an evidence-led example of what these observations can show, read the June 2026 cross-border heatwave analysis.