Weather App

Lightweight Django application that lets you:

• Search current weather for any place name or coordinates
• View a concise 5‑day daily summary (min/max temperature, max wind, symbol code)
• Automatically log every search (query text, resolved name, coords, temperature, symbol)
• Create and store custom date‑range weather snapshots (persisted JSON of the aggregated forecast)
• Review stored range records on their own detail pages

The focus is minimal code, fast startup, and zero external JS frameworks.

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Stack & Data Sources

Layer	Choice	Notes
Framework	Django 5	ORM + templating + static serving (dev)
DB	SQLite	Default; file db.sqlite3
HTTP Client	requests	For external API calls
Geocoding	Open‑Meteo Geocoding API	Forward (name -> lat/lon)
Weather Forecast	MET Norway (Locationforecast)	Hourly timeseries aggregated into daily stats
Styling	Tailwind CSS CDN	Utility classes only
JS	Vanilla ES6	static/js/main.js handles fetch + DOM updates

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Features in Detail

1. Search (Current + 5‑Day Summary)

Endpoint: /api/weather?q=<place> or /api/weather?lat=<lat>&lon=<lon>

1. Forward geocode (if q provided) to lat/lon
2. Fetch MET Norway forecast JSON (hourly)
3. Aggregate next ~5 calendar days into arrays:
   • dates[]
   • temperature_min[] / temperature_max[]
   • wind_speed_max[]
   • weather_code[] (symbol strings like clearsky_day)
4. Return JSON; persist a SimpleSearch row (with latest temp + symbol).

2. Recent Searches

Endpoint: /api/searches returns last N (ordered newest first). Each links to a detail page showing the same aggregated forecast again (fresh fetch) plus stored meta.

3. Range Records

Create via form on the Ranges page (provides location + start/end dates). Backend stores:

• Original input & resolved name/coords
• Date span
• Snapshot of forecast JSON arrays at creation time (so later viewing is consistent)

Endpoints:

• POST /api/records – create
• GET /api/records – list
• GET /records/<id>/ – HTML detail page
• DELETE /api/records/<id> – remove

4. Minimal Frontend

• No build step; Tailwind loaded from CDN in base template.
• main.js handles form submission, renders lists, and navigates to detail pages.

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Quick Start

1. Clone

git clone https://github.com/vijay-x-Raj/Weather_App.git
cd Weather_App

2. (Optional) Create Virtual Environment

python -m venv venv
source venv/Scripts/activate  # Windows Git Bash / PowerShell use venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

3. Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Run Migrations

python manage.py migrate

5. Start Dev Server

python manage.py runserver

Visit: http://127.0.0.1:8000/

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Usage Walkthrough

1. Open the home page – search form + recent searches + saved ranges appear.
2. Type a city (e.g., "Oslo") and submit – current + 5‑day summary loads, search logged.
3. Click a recent search entry to open its dedicated detail page.
4. Switch to Ranges page, enter a place + start/end (YYYY‑MM‑DD) to save a snapshot.
5. Open a range record detail page any time; data is the stored snapshot (does not re‑fetch).

API Examples

curl 'http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/weather?q=Berlin'
curl 'http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/searches'
curl 'http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/records'

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Data Model Overview

SimpleSearch

• query_text, resolved_name
• latitude, longitude
• temperature (float)
• weather_code (symbol string)
• searched_at (auto timestamp)

WeatherRecord

• location_input, resolved_name
• latitude, longitude
• start_date, end_date
• weather_json (daily arrays snapshot)
• created_at / updated_at

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Design Notes / Rationale

• Keep dependencies minimal (Django + requests only) for easy deployment.
• Store range snapshots to ensure reproducibility even if provider changes or data shifts.
• Use provider’s symbol strings directly (no fragile numeric mapping layer).
• SQLite is enough for lightweight usage; can swap to Postgres by updating DATABASES in settings.py.

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Extending / Next Ideas

• Human‑friendly descriptions for weather_code (mapping table)
• Add simple caching layer to avoid duplicate rapid API calls
• Pagination on searches endpoint
• User accounts to keep personal history private
• Export a range record to CSV

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Fix
500 on /api/weather after provider switch	DB schema expecting Integer for weather_code	Apply migration altering field to CharField
Empty results	Geocode failed	Try a more specific place name or include country
Wrong time window	Provider hourly horizon changed	Adjust aggregation logic in services.py

Run with --verbosity 2 for more migration detail: python manage.py migrate --verbosity 2.

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License

MIT (add a LICENSE file if publishing broadly).

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Attribution

• MET Norway Locationforecast API
• Open‑Meteo Geocoding API
• Tailwind CSS

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Security / Rate Limits

This app does not proxy or cache provider responses; heavy usage may hit provider rate limits. Consider adding caching (Redis) for production.

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Status

Actively developed minimal weather + range snapshot demo.