WeatherFlow PG3 vs PG2

[Hoosier Daddy]

I am using WeatherFlow 1.0.4 (on PG2) to capture illumination data from a nearby Tempest station to turn lights on/off. This has worked great for a long time, thank you Bob Paauwe!

Now have PG3 also running and I purchased the WeatherFlow NS. I was surprised to learn that I now need a personal API key, which I suppose means I need to buy a Tempest weather station. My old PG2 WeatherFlow node server is today still pulling the remote data with only the Station ID number configured.

I don't see how to contact Mr. Paauwe for support. Bobsplace.com link on his forum signature times out.

Does anyone know if the Tempest public network (or something else equivalent) can still be accessed for real-time data by IoP without running a personal weather station?

[bpwwer]

WeatherFlow made the change a couple of years back to not support public access to WeatherFlow user's data.  The API key I was given when developing the PG2 node server was allowed to access any station's data.  I'm a bit surprised that it is still working.

There are many weather services that you can sign up for to get weather data for your area without having a personal weather stations: ClimaCell (tommorow.io), WeatherBit, NOAA, AERIS, OpenWeatherMaps.  All of those have PG3 node servers.  Most offer a free subscription plan. The main difference is that they use public weather data which tends to come from Airports and other large institutions instead of a personal weather station down the street.

It's also possible to get an API key from a neighbor with a WeatherFlow station.