check_weather

Deterministic Weather Monitoring & Condition Validation

check_weather is a deterministic weather‑monitoring tool designed for NMS environments, automation pipelines, and operators who require reproducible, audit‑transparent condition checks. It performs lightweight API requests, validates response integrity, normalizes weather conditions, and produces structured output suitable for monitoring systems.

Frozen Binary Distribution

All NMS_Tools, including check_weather, are distributed as standalone frozen executables. They run directly without requiring a Python installation, virtual environment, or external dependencies. This ensures consistent behavior across systems and allows demos and integrations to call the tools exactly as shipped.

Overview

check_weather provides a reproducible inspection pipeline for weather APIs. It validates API availability, response structure, temperature ranges, condition codes, and precipitation indicators using deterministic logic consistent across environments. The tool is built around three principles:

1. Determinism — same conditions → same output
2. Reproducibility — no environment‑dependent behavior
3. Audit Transparency — explicit, structured, operator‑grade output

Key Features

1. Deterministic weather API request handling
2. Temperature, humidity, and wind validation
3. Condition‑code normalization (clear, cloudy, rain, snow, etc.)
4. Precipitation detection and severity classification
5. Structured JSON and Nagios output modes
6. API response integrity and schema validation

Weather Inspection

• Deterministic API request with strict timeout behavior
• Explicit evaluation of temperature, humidity, wind, and conditions
• Normalization of weather codes into operator‑friendly categories
• Precipitation detection (rain, snow, mixed)
• Response schema validation and error classification

Deterministic Behavior

• No implicit retries or fallback providers
• Consistent output across all environments
• Structured JSON for automation pipelines
• Operator‑grade verbose mode for diagnostics
• Nagios‑compatible single‑line output

Architecture Overview

1. Request Layer

Performs a deterministic API request with strict timeout and explicit error classification. Connection failures return UNKNOWN/CRITICAL states with clear diagnostic messages.

2. Response Parsing Layer

Extracts temperature, humidity, wind speed, condition codes, and precipitation indicators. All fields are normalized for reproducibility.

3. Validation Layer

• Temperature range validation
• Condition‑code normalization
• Precipitation detection
• Schema and field‑presence verification

4. Output Layer

Produces deterministic JSON, verbose, or Nagios output. All fields are explicit and audit‑transparent.

Current Status

• Version: 1.0.0
• Edition: Community Edition (public)
• Platform: Linux / Python 3.x
• Dependencies: requests

Roadmap

Near‑Term

• Extended precipitation classification
• Wind‑gust and visibility validation
• Additional condition‑code mappings

Mid‑Term

• Structured response‑time metrics
• Multi‑provider fallback (deterministic)
• Extended JSON schema

Long‑Term

• Cross‑suite correlation with check_interfaces.py
• Weather‑based alerting thresholds
• Distributed condition aggregation

Why check_weather Exists

Traditional weather checkers often produce inconsistent output, rely on provider‑specific quirks, or provide limited visibility into condition codes and precipitation data. check_weather solves this by applying deterministic engineering principles:

1. explicit validation
2. reproducible output
3. audit‑transparent reporting
4. no hidden behavior or implicit assumptions

Links

• GitHub Repository
• README (Project Overview)
• Installation Guide
• Usage Guide
• Operation Guide
• Enforcement Model
• Metadata Schema
• Logging Documentation
• Flags Reference
• Provider Architecture

Related Projects

• NMS Tools Index
• NMS Tools Suite
• Check Certs
• Check HTML
• Check Interfaces
• Check the Weather
• Check Ports
• Check Ticker

License

This check_weather is part of the NMS_Tools suite and is released under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file in the repository for full terms.

Contact

If you'd like to reach out, feel free to email me at ldmcclatchey@linktechengineering.net or connect with me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/leonmcclatchey .