Documentation

OpenWeather Lightning real-time data API

The OpenWeather Lightning real-time data API provides access to lightning strike data in real time. Our streaming service continuously collects lightning records from our data hub and broadcasts them the moment they are processed.

Data type: As soon as a new strike is detected, it is pushed over a persistent WebSocket connection. Each message is delivered in JSON format.
Update frequency: This is a real-time live stream
Historical range: Historical lightning data are not available via WebSocket API. For accessing historical lightning data, use the OpenWeather Lightning API .

Connection flow

To start receiving lightning data, follow these three steps:

Connect to the WebSocket endpoint using your API key as the apikey query parameter.
Send the stream-type message all_lightnings within 60 seconds of connecting.
Receive - you're now subscribed and will start getting live lightning records as they're detected.

To stop receiving data, simply close the connection.

Subscribe to a stream type

First, connect to the WebSocket endpoint using your API key:

wss://<stream-host>/?apikey=YOUR_OWM_API_KEY

Once the connection is established, send a message specifying the stream type. You must send this message within 60 seconds of connecting.

Please note: if you do not send this message, you will receive a timeout error after 60 seconds of waiting and the connection will be closed.

Supported value:

all_lightnings - enables you to receive the full stream of lightning strikes as they happen in real time.

Please note that this stream does not support any filtering: you receive every detected strike.

Any other value is rejected with "Not supported streaming type".

Python example

import asyncio  
import json  
import websockets  
API_KEY = "YOUR_OWM_API_KEY"  
#locally, port 8004 (docker-compose); in prod, your WSS host behind the gateway

URI = f"wss://<stream-host>/?apikey={API_KEY}"  
async def stream_lightnings():  
    async with websockets.connect(URI, ping_interval=20, ping_timeout=20) as ws:  
        # the mandatory first step is to select the stream type  
        await ws.send("all_lightnings")  
        async for raw in ws:                 # endless stream  
            rec = json.loads(raw)  
            print(rec["date"], rec["lat"], rec["lon"],  
                  rec["quality"], rec["error"])  
asyncio.run(stream_lightnings())

JS example

const API_KEY = "YOUR_OWM_API_KEY";

const ws = new WebSocket(`wss://<stream-host>/?apikey=${API_KEY}`);

ws.onopen = () => ws.send("all_lightnings");   // select a stream

ws.onmessage = (e) => {

const rec = JSON.parse(e.data);

console.log(rec.date, rec.lat, rec.lon, rec.quality, rec.error);

};

ws.onclose = (e) => console.log("closed", e.code, e.reason);

Query Parameters

Connection endpoint

wss://<stream-host>/?apikey={API_KEY}

Field Descriptions

Name	Type	Description
apikey	string	OpenWeather API key

Stream response

Each message pushed is a single lightning record (LightningRecordMessage) in JSON format.

{
  "id": "7829b824-880f-5354-badc-7705ab7a0395",
  "date": "07/08/2026 13:50:47",
  "lat": 50.89287,
  "lon": 35.231313,
  "quality": "good",
  "error": 5.0
}