Met Eireann Observations Scraper

Met Eireann Observations Scraper

Scrape Met Eireann weather observations for any of 10 Irish locations, up to a million per run. Each observation includes temperature, wind, humidity, pressure, and more, returned as a flat row. No API key needed. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Met Eireann's public website shows current weather observations for stations across Ireland, but there is no official bulk download. This Actor reads the observation feeds directly for Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Belfast, Shannon, Knock, Waterford, Sligo, and Donegal, and returns each reading in one fixed schema. Filter by location and cap the number of observations per run.

Who uses it	What they scrape Met Eireann for
Weather app developers	Populate a local weather widget with current conditions for Irish cities
Climate researchers	Build a time series of observations for a specific station
Agricultural analysts	Monitor temperature and rainfall for crop planning in Ireland
Travel and tourism platforms	Show live weather for Irish destinations on their websites

What it does

This Actor collects Met Eireann weather observations for a selected location and returns each observation as a flat row.

• 📍 Location filter: pick one of 10 Met Eireann station slugs, from Dublin to Donegal.
• 🔢 Observation cap: set maxItems from 1 to 1,000,000 to control run size.
• 📄 Flat output: each observation is a single row with all weather fields.
• 📤 Multiple exports: download as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Met Eireann data

📈 Build a weather history for Dublin.

A climate researcher runs the Actor daily with location=dublin and maxItems=1000 to accumulate a local temperature and rainfall record.

🌦️ Power a travel site's live weather widget.

A developer schedules the Actor for Cork and Galway every hour and feeds the JSON output to a frontend widget.

🚜 Support farm decision-making in the west.

An agritech analyst scrapes Knock and Shannon observations to alert farmers about frost or high wind.

📊 Compare conditions across Irish cities.

A data journalist runs the Actor for all 10 locations and builds a comparison table of current weather.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	Reads the public Met Eireann feeds directly, no registration or token
Fixed schema	Every observation returns the same fields, ready for a database
Irish coverage	Covers the 10 main synoptic stations across the Republic and Belfast
Scalable	Collect up to a million observations in one run

How it compares

No other Store actor targets Met Eireann the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	Met Eireann Observations Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When Met Eireann changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a single location slug and a maximum number of observations; the location filter runs upstream so only that station's data reaches your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "location": "dublin"
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200,
  "location": "dublin"
}

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Met Eireann Observations Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Met Eireann through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/met-eireann-observations-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that the location slug is one of the 10 supported values and that maxItems is at least 1. Also verify that the Met Eireann website is reachable from your network.

The run stops before reaching maxItems.

The upstream feed may have fewer observations than your maxItems value. The Actor returns whatever is available at that moment.

Some weather fields are missing in the output.

Not all stations report every field. Missing values are left empty or omitted depending on the source. Check the sample output for the location you are using.

I get an error about an invalid location.

Use only the exact slugs from the input schema: dublin, cork, galway, limerick, belfast, shannon, knock, waterford, sligo, donegal. They are case-sensitive.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Which locations can I scrape?	The Actor supports 10 Met Eireann station slugs: dublin, cork, galway, limerick, belfast, shannon, knock, waterford, sligo, and donegal. Select one per run.
Do I need a Met Eireann API key?	No. The Actor reads the public observation feeds from the Met Eireann website, so no registration or token is required.
What weather fields are returned?	Each observation includes standard fields such as temperature, wind speed and direction, humidity, pressure, and rainfall, depending on what the station reports. The exact field list is shown in the sample output.
How many observations can I get in one run?	You can set maxItems from 1 up to 1,000,000. The Actor stops after collecting that many observations.
Can I scrape multiple locations at once?	The input schema allows one location per run. To scrape multiple locations, run the Actor multiple times with different location values, or use a task for each.
How often is the data updated?	Met Eireann updates its observation feeds frequently, typically every hour or less. The Actor fetches the latest available data at run time.
What output formats are supported?	You can export the dataset as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform.
Is this Actor affiliated with Met Eireann?	No, this is an independent scraper built on the public website. It is not endorsed by or connected to Met Eireann.

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🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Met Eireann. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.