Examples of METAR Queries:

All requests must be constrained by time

Constraint Type	Parameter(s)	Allowed value(s)	Example(s)	Description
Station String	stationString	station id using the four-letter specification delimited by white spaces and/or commas (,)	stationString=KDEN KSEA, PHNL&hoursBeforeNow=2	obtain all available METARs for KDEN, KSEA and PHNL from the past two hours
Station String	stationString	using partial icaoId name	stationString=KSEA KDE&hoursBeforeNow=3	obtain METARs for KSEA and all icaoIds beginning with KDE (i.e. KDEN, KDEH, KDEW, ...etc.) from the past three hours
Station String	stationString	using partial icaoId name and wildcard (*)	stationString=KSEA KDE*&hoursBeforeNow=1	equivalent to above, obtain METARs for KSEA and all icaoIds beginning with KDE from the past hour
Station String	stationString	using '@' and two-letter U.S. state (or two-letter Canadian province) abbreviation to obtain METARS for a state	stationString= @WA&hoursBeforeNow=1	obtain METARs for all icaoIds from Washington state for the past hour
Station String	stationString		stationString= @BC&hoursBeforeNow=1	obtain METARs for all icaoIds from British Columbia, Canada for the past hour
Station String	stationString	using '~' and two-letter country abbreviation to obtain METARS for a country	stationString= ~au&hoursBeforeNow=1	obtain METARs for all icaoIds from Australia for the past hour

Constraint Type	Parameter(s)	Allowed Values	Example(s)	Description
Time Range	startTime, endTime	start and end times in seconds since January 1, 1970	startTime=1350405444 &endTime=1350412644 &stationString=PHTO	obtain all METARs for PHTO collected between these start and end times
Time Range	startTime, endTime	start and end times in ISO8601 date/time format query is based on METAR obsTime	startTime= 2012-10-16T16:37:24Z &endTime= 2012-10-16T18:37:24Z &stationString=PHTO	obtain all METARs for PHTO collected between these start and end times using ISO8601 date/time format, with UTC offset: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ. Please see W3C date/time formats.
Time Range	startTime, endTime	start and end times in ISO8601 date/time format query based on METAR obsTime	startTime= 2012-10-16 T16:37:24+0700 &endTime= 2012-10-16T 18:37:24+0700 &stationString=PHTO	obtain all METARs for PHTO collected between these start and end times using ISO8601 date/time format, with local offset: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss+ hhmm. OR YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss- hhmm. NOTE: Due to differences in character encodings by various web browsers, the + might get encoded to a whitespace. To avoid this from occurring, use %2B in place of the +. Please see W3C date/time formats.
Time Range	hoursBeforeNow	any positive integer or floating point value n = number of hours before current time query based on METAR obsTime	stationString=KDEN& hoursBeforeNow=3	obtain all METARs collected in the last three hours for KDEN
Time Range	hoursBeforeNow		stationString=KDEN& hoursBeforeNow=1.5	obtain all METARs collected in the last hour and a half for KDEN

NOTE:The ADDS database only retains three days of data.

Constraint Type	Parameter(s)	Allowed Value(s)	Example(s)	Description
Most Recent	mostRecent	true - get the single most recent METAR (only one value is returned) for the specified time range false - don't get the most recent METAR, equivalent to omitting mostRecent parameter query based on METAR obsTime	hoursBeforeNow=3& mostRecent=true& stationString=PHNL KSEA	of all METARS corresponding to PHNL and KSEA, obtain the single most recent METAR from the past three hours. Only one METAR is returned.

NOTE: The mostRecent constraint is applied after all other constraints have been applied to yield only one METAR. This single METAR corresponds to the most recent in the result set defined by the other constraints. The mostRecent constraint must be accompanied by a time constraint (hoursBeforeNow, start/end time, etc.). The mostRecent constraint may not be used in conjunction with the mostRecentForEachStation constraint.

Constraint Type	Parameter(s)	Allowed Values	Example(s)	Description
MostRecentFor EachStation	mostRecentForEachStation	See the 1.3 Release Notes for details constraint - request the most recent for each METAR station in the fastest fashion. Not appropriate for historical data retrieval postfilter - post filter results after applying all other constraints true - same as 'postfilter' method false - don't get the most recent for each METAR station, equivalent to omitting this parameter query is based on METAR obsTime	mostRecentForEachStation =constraint &hoursBeforeNow=1.25 &stationString=KDE	use the constraint method to retrieve the most recent METAR for all KDE* stations that were reported in the past hour and fifteen minutes. Note: this is not appropriate for historical data retrieval.
MostRecentFor EachStation	mostRecentForEachStation		startTime=1350405444& endTime=1350412644 &stationString=PHTO, PHKO, KSEA, KSFO& mostRecentForEachStation =postfilter	obtain the METARS for PHTO, PHKO, KSEA and KSFO from the indicated start and end times, using the postfilter method. Return only the most recent for each of these stations within the time range. There should be a total of four results, one result each for PHTO, PHKO, KSEA and KSFO.
MostRecentFor EachStation	mostRecentForEachStation		startTime=1350405444& endTime=1350412644 &stationString=PHTO, PHKO, KSEA, KSFO& mostRecentForEachStation =true	same as above, this defaults to the postfilter method to obtain the most recent METARs for PHTO, PHKO, KSEA and KSFO.

NOTE: See the 1.3 Release Notes for details on the difference between the mostRecentForEachStation types.

Constraint Type	Parameter(s)	Allowed Values	Example(s)	Description
LonLatRect	minLat, minLon, maxLat, maxLon	longitude and latititude in decimal degrees -180<= lon <=180 -90<= lat <=90 Please refer to : latitude and longitude for a refresher on these ranges. parameters can be listed in any order	minLat=25&minLon=-130& maxLat=65&maxLon=-40& hoursBeforeNow=3	obtain METARs collected within the last 3 hours for a rectangular region (bounding box) defined by the min and max lon and lat

NOTE:

The LonLatRect constraint can accommodate situations where the bounding box crosses the International Date Line
The LonLatRect constraint does not support bounding boxes that encompass a pole.

Constraint Type	Parameter(s)	Allowed Values	Example(s)	Description
Radial Distance	radialDistance	a radius (statute miles) around a point (longitude and latitude in decimal degrees) -180<= lon <=180 -90<= lat <=90 0< radius <=500 Radius and origin are separated by a semicolon(;) Described area may not cross the international dateline or either pole Please refer to : latitude and longitude for a refresher on these ranges.	radialDistance=20;-104.65,39.83& hoursBeforeNow=3	obtain METARs collected within the last 3 hours for all the stations within 20 statute miles of -104.65,39.83 (KDEN)

Constraint Type	Parameter(s)	Allowed Values	Example(s)	Description
Flight Path	flightPath	maximum distance in statute miles two or more way points Waypoints may take the form of (lon,lat) or station Ids or a mixture of (lon,lat) and station Id lon, lat are delimited by a comma (,) maximum distance MUST precede the way points maximium distance and way points are delimited by a semicolon( ;) the ordering of waypoints is significant: always start with origin, end with destination time range: use start, end times use hoursBeforeNow default (hoursBeforeNow=1)	flightPath=57.5; -125.27,49.95; -104.65,39.83 &hoursBeforeNow=3	obtain all METARS collected in the past 3 hours for the flight path from Campbell River, BC to Denver, CO using a 57.5 statute mile maximum distance
Flight Path	flightPath		flightPath=57.5; -125.27,49.95; -104.65,39.83	same as above, except using the default time range of hoursBeforeNow=1
Flight Path	flightPath		flightPath=57.5; -104.65,39.83; -97.5,27.77; -81.33,28.42; -73.15,44.47	A flight path from Denver,Co to Corpus Cristi, Tx to Orlando, Fl to Burlington, Vt using the default time range and a 57.5 statute mile maximum distance.
Flight Path	flightPath		flightPath=57.5; KDEN; -97.5,27.77; KMCO; -73.15,44.47	Same as above, except the station name for Denver and Orlando are employed, rather than their lon,lat values.

NOTE:
Flight path results are sorted by distance along the flight path from origin to destination.
The flight path constraint does not support the following situations:

flight paths that cross the poles

flight paths that cross the International Date Line.

Constraint Type	Parameter(s)	Allowed Values	Example(s)	Description
Density	minDegreeDistance	0 < any value <=90 The degree distance is the distance (based on longitude and latitude) between stations. The larger the value of minDegreeDistance, the less dense the results. Duplicate stations are filtered and the most recent of duplicate stations is reported.	flightPath=157.5; KDEN; KMCO& minDegreeDistance=50	obtain all METARS collected in the past 3 hours for the flight path from Denver, CO to Orlando, FL using a 157.5 statute mile maximum distance and requesting a lower density of results.
Density	minDegreeDistance	0 < any value <=90 The degree distance is the distance (based on longitude and latitude) between stations. The larger the value of minDegreeDistance, the less dense the results. Duplicate stations are filtered and the most recent of duplicate stations is reported.	flightPath=157.5; KDEN; KMCO& minDegreeDistance=1	obtain all METARS collected in the past 3 hours for the flight path from Denver, CO to Orlando, FL using a 157.5 statute mile maximum distance and requesting a higher density of results.

Constraint Type	Parameter(s)	Allowed Values	Example(s)	Description
Field Parameters	fields	Constrain the results to contain only the fields of interest. Indicate the fields of interest by a list of space or comma (,) delimited field names (as indicated in the Metar Field Description Table). If no fields are indicated, the default condition is assumed and all available fields in the Metar Field Description are returned.	flightPath=57.5; -125.27,49.95; -104.65,39.83 &hoursBeforeNow=3 &fields=sky_cover, cloud_base_ft_agl, elevation_m, vert_vis_ft	obtain all METARS collected in the past 3 hours for the flight path Campbell River, BC to Denver, CO using a 57.5 statute mile maximum distance. Only the available sky cover, cloud base, elevation and vertical visibility results are returned.

	NOAA's National Weather Service
	Aviation Weather Center Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS)