# NWS Area Forecast Discussion API

> NWS Area Forecast Discussion API is a paid API for AI agents from api.maxwellinternational.ai, paid per call via x402, $0.005/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-02).

Retrieves the official National Weather Service Area Forecast Discussion (AFD) for a given Weather Forecast Office (WFO), including key messages, forecast reasoning, and full product text.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://api.maxwellinternational.ai/v1/weather/discussion?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.005/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-02
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/nws-area-forecast-discussion-api-75997497
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_vTuB2_UBgOY9e8qkRzTV3

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability nws-area-forecast-discussion-api-75997497
```

Example prompt: Can you pull the latest NWS Area Forecast Discussion from the Boulder weather office (BOU) and summarize the key messages about this weekend's conditions?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need the official NWS Area Forecast Discussion text for a specific Weather Forecast Office, particularly when you want the meteorologist's technical reasoning, narrative forecast discussion, or key messages behind a forecast — rather than just raw forecast data. It is ideal for agents building weather briefings, explaining forecast rationale to users, or monitoring official NWS communications. Prefer over raw NOAA API access when you need a pre-parsed, structured response with sections and metadata already extracted.

## Known failure modes

- Invalid or unrecognized WFO office code returns an error or empty result
- NWS upstream API unavailability may cause 502/503 errors
- Payment of 0.005 USDC required via x402 protocol; missing payment returns 402
- Discussion not yet issued for the current period may return stale or null data
- Rate limiting if too many requests are made in quick succession

## How this service works

Latest NWS Area Forecast Discussion (forecaster reasoning, confidence, key messages, aviation) for a forecast office or the office covering a US point, split into sections; text=0 omits the raw product. From the NWS (US and territories), cached and refreshed about every 3 hours; a location not yet cached answers 404, is not charged, and is queued.

## Output

Returns a structured JSON object containing the full Area Forecast Discussion product text, parsed sections with titles (e.g. KEY MESSAGES), the issuing Weather Forecast Office code, issuance timestamp, a unique product ID, and source classification. The response mirrors the official NWS AFD format with machine-readable fields.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "required": [
  "input"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET",
      "HEAD",
      "DELETE"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "headers": {
     "type": "object",
     "additionalProperties": {
      "type": "string"
     }
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "additionalProperties": {
      "type": "string"
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string"
    },
    "example": {
     "type": "object"
    }
   }
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "sku": "weather.discussion",
  "wfo": "BOU",
  "country": "United States",
  "sections": [
   {
    "text": "- Drier and warmer this weekend, with highs reaching into the 80s\n  across th...",
    "title": "KEY MESSAGES",
    "period": null
   }
  ],
  "productId": "25fa07f5-da22-424f-8756-a361a7b8dbb8",
  "generatedAt": "2026-09-26T07:40:20.766Z",
  "productText": "\n000\nFXUS65 KBOU 260523\nAFDBOU\n\nArea Forecast Discussion\nNational Weather Ser...",
  "sourceClass": "official-api",
  "issuanceTime": "2026-09-26T05:23:00+00:00",
  "issuingOffice": "KBOU"
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/nws-area-forecast-discussion-api-75997497/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from api.maxwellinternational.ai](https://www.zero.xyz/host/api.maxwellinternational.ai/llms.txt)