Synoptic Data Viewer Frequently Asked Questions
Here are frequently asked questions regarding the Synoptic Data Viewer
The Synoptic Data Viewer is our web-based map and chart tool for exploring real-time and historical weather observations from the Synoptic Platform. It displays stations on an interactive map and lets you view current conditions, time series charts, and station metadata.
You can access the Viewer at viewer.synopticdata.com.
Visit customer.synopticdata.com and click “Sign Up” to create a free account. Free accounts allow you to save settings, favorite views, and a get a limited number of data downloads per day.
There are several ways to locate a station:
Use the search bar at the top of the Metadata page to search by Station ID (for example, KSLC or D3101) or by station name.
Pan and zoom on the Explore map to the geographic area you are interested in — stations are represented as colored markers.
Use the variable and network filters in the side panel to narrow down which stations are shown on the map.
Click any station marker to open its station card with current observations, location, elevation, and links to time series, metadata, and downloads.
Work through the following:
Confirm the station ID is correct. Some stations have multiple aliases between providers.
Check whether the station is currently reporting the variable you are filtering by. If you have filtered the map to “air temperature” but the station is only reporting precipitation, it will not appear.
Open the station card, navigating to the about section for a station, look at the Reporting & Sensor Archive list to confirm what the station is reporting.
Check the timestamp of the most recent observation. If it has been hours or days, the station may be temporarily offline at the source.
If the station still does not appear after checking these items, please submit a support ticket with the station ID, the variable you expect to see, and a screenshot of what you are seeing.
The Viewer only displays variables that the station’s sensors actually report. If wind gust, snow depth, or another variable is missing, the most likely cause is that the station’s sensor package does not include it, or the sensor is temporarily offline.
Open the station card and review the list of available variables. You can also use the Metadata explorer to confirm which sensors are installed.
If you believe the variable should be reporting and is not, submit a ticket with the station ID and variable name and our team will investigate.
Open the station you want to download data from click the download button on the top right of the station card. Then enter the time period you would like to download as well as the variables you would like to download. The Viewer’s Data Download tool will queue your request and email you when the file is ready.
By default, downloads are returned as CSV. You can also choose JSON if you prefer a structured format for programmatic use. There is a 3 download per day limitation for free users of the Data Viewer. If you need more daily downloads, we offer commercial tiers with higher (or unlimited) download volumes. To discuss tier pricing, contact our sales team at sales@synopticdata.com or via https://synopticdata.com/customer-support/.
This usually means one of three things:
The Download tool is shared across all users, so during peak times it can run slowly. Wait a few minutes, most requests complete within 5–10 minutes, even at peak.
There may be a temporary outage on the Download service. If the screen has been stuck for more than 15 minutes, refresh the page and resubmit.
If the issue persists, contact support@synopticdata.com or via the https://synopticdata.com/customer-support/ link with your station ID, time range, and the email tied to your account so we can look at the request server-side.
Free Data Viewer accounts include 3 downloads per day. This limit resets every 24 hours.
If you need more daily downloads, we offer commercial tiers with higher (or unlimited) download volumes. To discuss tier pricing, contact our sales team at sales@synopticdata.com or via https://synopticdata.com/customer-support/.
Free accounts are limited to one year of historical data per request.
Upgrade your account or token to enable extended historical access — submit a ticket and our team can extend your token’s range.
All timestamps are returned in ISO 8601 format. By default, observation timestamps are in UTC.
If you choose “Local” for the output time zone, timestamps are returned in the station’s local time, with a UTC offset suffix. For example, a Pacific time station might return:
2026-02-22T03:40:00-0800
The “-0800” tells you the offset from UTC The local-time setting is per-station, so a multi-station download will return each station’s timestamps in its own local zone.
The radar and satellite map layers are real-time only, they reflect current conditions and are not available when the Viewer is in historical mode. When you set the Viewer to a past time, those layers are intentionally hidden so you do not see today’s radar over historical observations.
To return to the live radar/satellite view, switch the time slider back to “Now” or the current time.
Synoptic ingests data directly from the original provider, so values shown in the Viewer reflect what the station reported. Differences with other sites are usually one of:
A different timestamp — make sure both pages are showing the same observation time.
A different unit (Imperial vs. Metric, mph vs. m/s) — check the units indicator on each page.
A QC flag — Synoptic’s quality control may flag a value that another site shows unfiltered. Check the QC indicator on the station card.
If the values still do not match after checking the above, please submit a ticket to support@synopticdata.com or via the link https://synopticdata.com/customer-support/ with both screenshots, the station ID, and the timestamp so our team can investigate.
Email support@synopticdata.com from the email address tied to the account and request closure or contact us at https://synopticdata.com/customer-support/. We will confirm the request, deactivate the account, and revoke any associated tokens.
Yes. The Viewer’s URL updates as you change stations, time ranges, and map filters. Copy the URL from your browser bar at any point and share it. Anyone who opens the link will see the same station, time window, and layers you had loaded.
We support modern, up-to-date versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari. Try the following before submitting a ticket:
Refresh the page (Ctrl+F5 / Cmd+Shift+R) to clear cached assets.
Disable browser extensions (especially ad blockers or VPN extensions) and try again — these are the most common cause of map and chart rendering problems.
Try a different network. Some corporate VPNs block parts of our map tile or API endpoints.
Update your browser to the latest version.
If the issue persists, send support@synopticdata.com or contact us via https://synopticdata.com/customer-support/ and include a screenshot, the URL you were on, and your browser version. We can usually pinpoint the issue from those three pieces.
We genuinely use customer feedback to prioritize Viewer development. You can submit feedback in two ways:
Use the in-Viewer feedback form (look for the “Feedback” link in the top right of the Data Viewer page). These responses go directly to our team.
Users can also submit feedback at https://synopticdata.com/contact-us/ and support@synopticdata.com