Recipes

Recipe: 5-Day Daily Forecast

This recipe shows how to retrieve a 5-day daily forecast — the most common weather data type for travel apps, event planners, home screens, and marketing dashboards.

These recipes are teaching examples — not production code.

Host: examples use the development host apidev.accuweather.com. Switch to api.accuweather.com for production.
Production hardening: GZIP compression, caching, retries with exponential backoff, and error handling are not included. See the Best Practices guide.

Scenario

"I want to display a 5-day forecast card showing the daily high/low temperatures and whether to expect rain for each day."

You'll need a LocationKey before starting. If you don't have one, follow the Location Search recipe first. For this example we use LocationKey 349727 (New York City).

The Daily Forecast API supports multiple durations:

Duration param	Days of data	Notes
`1day`	1	Today only
`5day`	5	Most common; free-tier compatible
`10day`	10	Medium-range planning
`15day`	15	Extended planning
`25day`	25	Seasonal planning
`45day`	45	Requires Enterprise tier

Extended details

Add details=true to receive additional fields per day: sunrise/sunset, moon phase, air quality & pollen indices, precipitation probability, wind, cloud cover, and more.

Code
curl "https://apidev.accuweather.com/forecasts/v1/daily/5day/349727.json?apikey={YOUR_API_KEY}&details=true"

Selected additional fields with details=true:


Code
{
  "Sun": {
    "Rise": "2024-06-15T05:27:00-04:00",
    "Set": "2024-06-15T20:29:00-04:00"
  },
  "Moon": {
    "Phase": "WaxingCrescent",
    "Age": 8
  },
  "HoursOfSun": 7.2,
  "AirAndPollen": [
    { "Name": "AirQuality", "Value": 38, "Category": "Good", "CategoryValue": 1 },
    { "Name": "Grass", "Value": 3, "Category": "Low", "CategoryValue": 1 },
    { "Name": "UVIndex", "Value": 8, "Category": "Very High", "CategoryValue": 4 }
  ],
  "Day": {
    "PrecipitationProbability": 20,
    "ThunderstormProbability": 5,
    "Wind": {
      "Speed": { "Value": 10.4, "Unit": "mi/h", "UnitType": 9 },
      "Direction": { "Degrees": 210, "Localized": "SSW", "English": "SSW" }
    },
    "CloudCover": 38,
    "ShortPhrase": "Some sun, pleasant",
    "LongPhrase": "Some sun, pleasant and not as humid"
  }
}

AirAndPollen is perfect for building health-aware weather features — surface pollen, air quality, and UV index alongside the standard forecast data.

Key response fields

Field	Type	Description
`Headline.Text`	String	Plain-language summary of the most significant event
`Headline.Severity`	Integer	Severity level (1 = extreme → 7 = minor)
`DailyForecasts[].Date`	String	ISO 8601 date for the forecast day
`DailyForecasts[].Temperature.Minimum.Value`	Number	Daily low temperature
`DailyForecasts[].Temperature.Maximum.Value`	Number	Daily high temperature
`DailyForecasts[].Day.Icon`	Integer	Daytime weather icon code
`DailyForecasts[].Day.IconPhrase`	String	Daytime weather description
`DailyForecasts[].Day.HasPrecipitation`	Boolean	Whether daytime precipitation is expected
`DailyForecasts[].Day.PrecipitationType`	String \| null	`"Rain"`, `"Snow"`, `"Ice"`, or `"Mixed"`
`DailyForecasts[].Night.IconPhrase`	String	Nighttime weather description
`DailyForecasts[].Day.ShortPhrase` (details)	String	Short daytime summary phrase
`DailyForecasts[].Day.PrecipitationProbability` (details)	Integer	Probability of any daytime precipitation
`DailyForecasts[].Sun` (details)	Object	Sunrise and sunset times
`DailyForecasts[].AirAndPollen` (details)	Array	Pollen, UV, and air quality indices

Request metric units

Append &metric=true to receive temperatures in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit:

Code
curl "https://apidev.accuweather.com/forecasts/v1/daily/5day/349727.json?apikey={YOUR_API_KEY}&metric=true"

Common pitfalls

Headline vs. per-day data — The Headline describes the single most significant event across the entire forecast period, not just today. Don't use it as a substitute for per-day data; always read DailyForecasts for day-by-day accuracy.

HasPrecipitation vs. PrecipitationProbability — HasPrecipitation (in the basic response) is a boolean threshold. For a nuanced view, use details=true to get the actual PrecipitationProbability percentage so you can tune your display (e.g., show a rain icon only above 40%).

Complete code sample

Copy a full, runnable example that fetches the 5-day forecast and prints a day-by-day summary.

Next steps

Hourly Forecast — drill down into hour-by-hour data for any of these days
Current Conditions — pair forecasts with a live snapshot of what's happening right now

Last modified on May 7, 2026

Hourly Forecast Real-Time Lightning

Recipes

Recipe: 5-Day Daily Forecast

This recipe shows how to retrieve a 5-day daily forecast — the most common weather data type for travel apps, event planners, home screens, and marketing dashboards.

These recipes are teaching examples — not production code.

Host: examples use the development host apidev.accuweather.com. Switch to api.accuweather.com for production.
Production hardening: GZIP compression, caching, retries with exponential backoff, and error handling are not included. See the Best Practices guide.

Scenario

"I want to display a 5-day forecast card showing the daily high/low temperatures and whether to expect rain for each day."

You'll need a LocationKey before starting. If you don't have one, follow the Location Search recipe first. For this example we use LocationKey 349727 (New York City).

The Daily Forecast API supports multiple durations:

Duration param	Days of data	Notes
`1day`	1	Today only
`5day`	5	Most common; free-tier compatible
`10day`	10	Medium-range planning
`15day`	15	Extended planning
`25day`	25	Seasonal planning
`45day`	45	Requires Enterprise tier

Extended details

Add details=true to receive additional fields per day: sunrise/sunset, moon phase, air quality & pollen indices, precipitation probability, wind, cloud cover, and more.

Code
curl "https://apidev.accuweather.com/forecasts/v1/daily/5day/349727.json?apikey={YOUR_API_KEY}&details=true"

Selected additional fields with details=true:


Code
{
  "Sun": {
    "Rise": "2024-06-15T05:27:00-04:00",
    "Set": "2024-06-15T20:29:00-04:00"
  },
  "Moon": {
    "Phase": "WaxingCrescent",
    "Age": 8
  },
  "HoursOfSun": 7.2,
  "AirAndPollen": [
    { "Name": "AirQuality", "Value": 38, "Category": "Good", "CategoryValue": 1 },
    { "Name": "Grass", "Value": 3, "Category": "Low", "CategoryValue": 1 },
    { "Name": "UVIndex", "Value": 8, "Category": "Very High", "CategoryValue": 4 }
  ],
  "Day": {
    "PrecipitationProbability": 20,
    "ThunderstormProbability": 5,
    "Wind": {
      "Speed": { "Value": 10.4, "Unit": "mi/h", "UnitType": 9 },
      "Direction": { "Degrees": 210, "Localized": "SSW", "English": "SSW" }
    },
    "CloudCover": 38,
    "ShortPhrase": "Some sun, pleasant",
    "LongPhrase": "Some sun, pleasant and not as humid"
  }
}

AirAndPollen is perfect for building health-aware weather features — surface pollen, air quality, and UV index alongside the standard forecast data.

Key response fields

Field	Type	Description
`Headline.Text`	String	Plain-language summary of the most significant event
`Headline.Severity`	Integer	Severity level (1 = extreme → 7 = minor)
`DailyForecasts[].Date`	String	ISO 8601 date for the forecast day
`DailyForecasts[].Temperature.Minimum.Value`	Number	Daily low temperature
`DailyForecasts[].Temperature.Maximum.Value`	Number	Daily high temperature
`DailyForecasts[].Day.Icon`	Integer	Daytime weather icon code
`DailyForecasts[].Day.IconPhrase`	String	Daytime weather description
`DailyForecasts[].Day.HasPrecipitation`	Boolean	Whether daytime precipitation is expected
`DailyForecasts[].Day.PrecipitationType`	String \| null	`"Rain"`, `"Snow"`, `"Ice"`, or `"Mixed"`
`DailyForecasts[].Night.IconPhrase`	String	Nighttime weather description
`DailyForecasts[].Day.ShortPhrase` (details)	String	Short daytime summary phrase
`DailyForecasts[].Day.PrecipitationProbability` (details)	Integer	Probability of any daytime precipitation
`DailyForecasts[].Sun` (details)	Object	Sunrise and sunset times
`DailyForecasts[].AirAndPollen` (details)	Array	Pollen, UV, and air quality indices

Request metric units

Append &metric=true to receive temperatures in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit:

Code
curl "https://apidev.accuweather.com/forecasts/v1/daily/5day/349727.json?apikey={YOUR_API_KEY}&metric=true"

Common pitfalls

Complete code sample

Copy a full, runnable example that fetches the 5-day forecast and prints a day-by-day summary.

const API_KEY = "{YOUR_API_KEY}";
const locationKey = "349727";

// Step 1: Fetch the 5-day forecast
const res = await fetch(
  `https://apidev.accuweather.com/forecasts/v1/daily/5day/${locationKey}.json?apikey=${API_KEY}`
);
const data: Record<string, any> = await res.json();

console.log("\n📅 5-Day Forecast");
console.log("━".repeat(42) + "\n");

// Step 2: Print the headline
console.log(`⚠ Headline: ${data.Headline.Text}\n`);

// Step 3: Daily summary
for (const day of data.DailyForecasts) {
  const date = new Date(day.Date).toLocaleDateString("en-US", {
    weekday: "short",
    month: "short",
    day: "numeric",
  });
  const hi = day.Temperature.Maximum.Value;
  const lo = day.Temperature.Minimum.Value;
  const phrase = day.Day.IconPhrase;
  const rain = day.Day.HasPrecipitation
    ? `🌧 ${day.Day.PrecipitationType}`
    : "No rain";

  console.log(`${date}: High ${hi}°F / Low ${lo}°F | ${phrase} | ${rain}`);
}

Next steps

Hourly Forecast — drill down into hour-by-hour data for any of these days
Current Conditions — pair forecasts with a live snapshot of what's happening right now

Last modified on May 7, 2026

Hourly Forecast Real-Time Lightning

Scenario

1Choose a forecast duration

2Make the request

3Inspect the response

4Render a 5-day forecast card

Extended details

Key response fields

Request metric units

Common pitfalls

Complete code sample

Next steps

Scenario

1Choose a forecast duration

2Make the request

3Inspect the response

4Render a 5-day forecast card

Extended details

Key response fields

Request metric units

Common pitfalls

Complete code sample

Next steps