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Pictograms

Pictograms

Weather conditions are graphically summarised by pictograms. These show sunshine, clouds, precipitation type, intensity and thunderstorms for the time period referenced in the forecast. A detailed symbol description is shown below. Pictograms are used in overviews like on the start page and in meteograms. The period for which the pictogram is effective is printed above or below. An hour indicates the end of the interval (e.g. a 3-hour pictogram marked 11:00 includes the forecast from 8:01 until 11:00, and the following 3-hour pictogram marked 14:00 includes the forecast from 11:01 until 14:00).

Day and Night Pictograms

Day and night pictograms show the weather condition for a period of one or three hour values during the day and night. They contain more detailed descriptions of weather conditions than the iday pictograms which represent a daily total of weather conditions.

DaytimeNighttimeNo.Description
01_day_cloudless01_night_cloudless1Clear, cloudless sky
02_day_cirrus02_night_cirrus2Clear, few cirrus
03_day_cirrocumulus03_night3Clear with cirrus
04_day04_night4Clear with few low clouds
05_day05_night5Clear with few low clouds and few cirrus
06_day06_night6Clear with few low clouds and cirrus
07_day07_night7Partly cloudy
08_day08_night8Partly cloudy and few cirrus
09_day09_night9Partly cloudy and cirrus
10_day10_night10Mixed with some thunderstorm clouds possible
11_day11_night11Mixed with few cirrus with some thunderstorm clouds possible
12_day12_night12Mixed with cirrus and some thunderstorm clouds possible
13_day13_night13Clear but hazy
14_day14_night14Clear but hazy with few cirrus
15_day15_night15Clear but hazy with cirrus
16_day16_night16Fog/low stratus clouds
17_day17_night17Fog/low stratus clouds with few cirrus
18_day18_night18Fog/low stratus clouds with cirrus
19_day19_night19Mostly cloudy
20_day20_night20Mostly cloudy and few cirrus
21_day21_night21Mostly cloudy and cirrus
22_day22_night22Overcast
23_day23_night23Overcast with rain
24_day24_night24Overcast with snow
25_day25_night25Overcast with heavy rain
26_day26_night26Overcast with heavy snow
27_day27_night27Rain, thunderstorms likely
28_day28_night28Light rain, thunderstorms likely
29_day29_night29Storm with heavy snow
30_day30_night30Heavy rain, thunderstorms likely
31_day31_night31Mixed with showers
32_day33_day32Mixed with snow showers
33_day33_night33Overcast with light rain
34_day34_night34Overcast with light snow
35_day35_night35Overcast with mixture of snow and rain

iday Pictograms

iday pictograms show a summary of the daily weather condition. They are used in the API data feeds. The data feeds for 7 days forecasts use all the 17 iday picto- codes, the data feeds for 14 days use only the first 11 iday pictocodes. The json data feed also uses the 17 iday pictocodes.

PictogramNo.Description
01_iday1Sunny, cloudless sky
02_iday2Sunny and few clouds
03_iday3Partly cloudy
04_iday4Overcast
05_iday5Fog
06_iday6Overcast with rain
07_iday7Mixed with showers
08_iday8Showers, thunderstorms likely
09_iday9Overcast with snow
10_iday10Mixed with snow showers
11_iday11Mostly cloudy with a mixture of snow and rain
12_iday12Overcast with light rain
13_iday13Overcast with light snow
14_iday14Mostly cloudy with rain
15_iday15Mostly cloudy with snow
16_iday16Mostly cloudy with light rain
17_iday17Mostly cloudy with light snow

Special Pictograms

DaytimeNighttimeNo.Description
dusty-day_mediumdusty-night_medium18Dust
desert dust; dry dust softened by the wind
blowing-dust-day_mediumblowing-dust-night_medium19Blowing dust
desert storm; storm or strong wind that carries sand or dust with it

Note: the special pictograms are only shown on our website and not included in the API

Calculation of the Pictograms

meteoblue pictograms show the most likely weather conditions for a location, based on a very detailed analysis of local forecast (black squares) in an area (yellow square). The area considered is within 20-30 km of the chosen centre point location (e.g. green points: Évian in Southeast and Morges in Northwest of square).

How_the_weather_pictograms_are_calculated

For each point, a different pictogram is calculated. Main factors considered are:

  • cloud cover: average of all cloud cover in the area.
  • precipitation intensity: average of precipitation for the chosen location.
  • precipitation type: prevailing precipitation for the chosen location.
  • wind (if displayed): average or maximum wind for the chosen location.

Pictogram calculation combines the regional and local forecasts to match our perception: sunshine and cloudiness are perceived regionally, whereas precipitation, wind and temperature are perceived locally.

Download

Get our weather pictograms for free: you can use them with our or with your data, placing a link from your page to this page. All rights reserved. meteoblue_weather_pictograms_2016-11-04.zip