Connect Visual Crossing

Connect a Visual Crossing source to load weather data into the Lake. Every run brings back the daily forecast for each location you list.

Add a Visual Crossing source

1. Click Add datasource in the Lake and choose VisualCrossing in the picker. It sits under Popular and under Communication & Collaboration; Supported connectors lists every source type.
2. Fill in the General section: a Name of at least 3 characters, a Code of letters and numbers (at least 2 characters), and a Folder if you keep sources in folders.
3. In the Connection section, enter your API Key.
4. Under Locations, click Add, fill in a name and a value for the entry, and confirm it. Repeat for every place you want weather for; hover an entry to edit or remove it.
5. Click Add. On a saved source the same button reads Save; on a copy, Duplicate.
6. Import the source's Forecast table to load the data; see Import tables.

A collapsible Documentation panel sits beside the form.

What a load covers

• Window: 15 days centred on the run date, the 7 days before it and the 7 days after it.
• Values: the request asks for the daily forecast in metric units.
• Locations: every entry in Locations is requested separately, and the load combines the responses.
• Versions: tables from this source use Full Snapshot and no other sync type, so each load saves the table as a new version and older versions stay. See Choose a sync type.

Limits and edge cases

• The API Key is required. Without it, the form reports API Key is required.
• The 15-day window is fixed: each run reads 7 days before the run date and 7 days after it, and no setting changes it.

For the messages you may see while you connect a Visual Crossing source, read Lake troubleshooting.

Questions, answered

Which dates does a load cover?

Each run reads a 15-day window centred on the run date: the 7 days before it and the 7 days after it. The request asks for daily values, so every day in the window has its own figures.

Do I need a separate source for each location?

No. One source lists every place you want weather for, and each entry under Locations is requested as part of the same load. Add or remove entries to match your list.

What does each location entry need?

A name of at least 3 characters and a location value, for example a city name or coordinates. The name is the entry's label; the value is the place to look up.

The form shows Name is required, Name must be at least 3 characters or Location is required for an incomplete entry, and Locations are required or Locations cannot be empty for a missing or empty list. Names must be unique in the list; a repeated name shows Location name must be unique.

How do I tell the locations apart in the loaded data?

Every row carries the name and the location of the entry it came from, next to the service's JSON response. Use the name to pick out the rows for a place, then extract the values you need from the JSON.

How do I change the API key or the locations after saving?

Open the saved source, change the API Key or the Locations list in the Connection section, and save. Saving shows the notification Connection updated successfully.

Can I test the connection before I save?

No. For a Visual Crossing connection, Test Connection reports success without contacting the service, so it does not check the key or the locations.

The load says the API key or the locations are missing. What now?

The saved configuration is incomplete. The run's error reads API key not found in configuration for table: % or No locations found in configuration options for table: %, with the table's name in place of %. Open the source, fill in the missing part of Connection, save, and synchronize the table again. See Run, stop and troubleshoot loads.