UK 4km - Soaring Weather API
High-resolution WRF forecasts covering England, Wales, and southern Scotland. Thermal strength, cloudbase, soaring height, corridor sampling - updated four times daily, served as JSON.
Model specifications
What you get for UK coverage
All fields available now at 4 km. 2 km resolution in development.
Thermal Strength
wstar_ms - thermal updraft velocity in m/s
Soaring Height
hglider_agl_m + hglider_msl_m - usable thermalling height
Cloudbase
cloudbase_agl_ft + cloudbase_msl_m, Cu potential, OD risk
Wind
surface_wind_* plus wind_925_*, wind_850_*, wind_800_*, wind_700_*
Trigger Temperature
thermal_trigger_temp_c - surface temperature at which thermals fire
Day Rating
day_rating - poor, marginal, fair, good, excellent
Corridor Sampling
Weather along a route - time-aware available
Sounding Profile
Full vertical profile - temp, dewpoint, wind
Query UK forecasts in seconds
Pass region, resolution, and any covered coordinate - the API resolves the nearest model grid point and returns the forecast.
Request
GET https://api.convek.dev/v1/site ?region=gb &resolution=4km &lat=51.88 &lon=-1.55 &time=13:00 Authorization: Bearer cvk_live_your_key_here
About soaring weather in the UK
The UK has one of the most active soaring communities in Europe - from the South Downs and Dunstable Downs in the south, to the Long Mynd and Bowland Forest in the Midlands and north, and up to sites like Portmoak in southern Scotland. Thermal flying typically runs from late March through to September, with June, July, and August producing the most reliable cross-country days.
UK thermals are notoriously difficult to forecast with global models. At 25 km resolution, a global GFS run can't capture the valley flows, sea breezes, and terrain-forced uplift that determine whether a day is marginal or exceptional. Convek's 4 km WRF model is purpose-built to resolve these effects - with 2 km resolution coming for even more detail around complex terrain.
All UK soaring data is available via the Convek API as structured JSON - for individual pilots checking conditions before driving to the airfield, developers building soaring apps, gliding clubs running forecast displays, and instrument makers embedding weather data in cockpit systems.
UK coordinate range
The live gb/4km region covers England, Wales, and southern Scotland. Valid coordinates for queries sit inside this bounding box:
Latitude
50.0° N - 56.5° N
Longitude
6.0° W - 2.0° E
Requests outside this domain return 400 Bad Request with a message explaining the coordinates are outside gb coverage. See the coverage overview for other regions.
Start querying UK soaring data now.
Free tier - 25 queries/day. No credit card required.