National Weather Service notes

In its internal operation, the WeatherService accesses some of these same NWS HTTP servers to update the weather report for any NWS locale. Two methods are used to retrieve weather data for any locale: a URL-based query to a specific “station ID” for current weather conditions, and a SOAP query for weather forecast conditions, using that locale’s longitude/latitude coordinates.

In these two queries to an NWS locale, Niagara uses the “station ID” as well as the longitude/latitude data found in the nwsStationList.xml file inside the station’s local weather module. Each locale entry in that file also includes a 2-character region code (typically a U.S. state), and the text name/descriptor for that locale.

Figure 45.   nwsStationList.xml in the weather module contains NWS weather locales

When adding a new NWS report, this list is the source for region code and name/descriptor choices in drop-down selection lists. After adding a report, you also see its four-character “station ID” on the NwsWeatherProvider property sheet.