AerisWeather
AerisWeather provides global weather data APIs, mapping layers, and related meteorological technology services for businesses and digital products.
Last updated August 31, 2026
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Overview
AerisWeather is a weather-technology brand associated with Whether or Knot LLC, a Minnesota-based provider of weather data services, RESTful APIs, and map layers. Its products are designed primarily for commercial customers, software developers, media organizations, and other digital-product operators that need to integrate current conditions, forecasts, alerts, environmental observations, and severe-weather information into applications or workflows. The business has roots in outsourced weather production and broadcast meteorology. Paul Douglas conceived an outsourced weather-production model in 1979, but the economics of satellite data made the idea impractical at the time. After leaving WCCO-TV in 2008, Douglas founded WeatherNation as broadband access made distribution and data delivery more affordable. WeatherNation initially supplied weather content to clients such as the St. Cloud Times and KARE, and later served additional media organizations, including Spanish-language stations. In 2009, WeatherNation's parent company acquired HAMWeather, an Atlanta-based weather-technology business whose assets later became important to the AerisWeather product line. WeatherNation's early history also included broadcast experiments. In May 2010, the company launched The Weather Cast for Dish Network, but the channel ceased operations after four days when Dish and The Weather Channel reached a carriage agreement. The organization subsequently licensed the WeatherNation name and divided its activities among several entities, including Broadcast Weather, HAMWeather, Smart Energy, and Singular Logic. These units covered areas such as television weather production, data and graphics development, energy-related forecasts, and advertising technology. The AerisWeather trade name emerged from a later corporate and product transition. On August 1, 2016, Whether or Knot LLC announced the acquisition of HAMWeather's assets and stated that AerisWeather would be the trade name for future weather API and mapping development. The entity formerly associated with AerisWeather was renamed Praedictix. AerisWeather subsequently developed a portfolio that included a global weather API, programmable map layers, combined API-and-mapping access, embeddable WeatherBlox widgets, personal-weather-station services, and premium lightning data. AerisWeather's API supports business and enterprise use cases and provides access to historical, current, and forecast information for locations around the world. Its documented data categories include conditions, forecasts, air quality, alerts, tropical cyclones, storm cells, fires, and lightning. AerisWeather Maps supplies visualization layers such as radar, satellite, forecast, severe-weather, tropical, ocean, air-quality, and alert layers. Webhooks can be used to monitor changing conditions or alert states in specified locations and boundaries. Vaisala Group acquired AerisWeather on January 27, 2022. Vaisala later announced the Xweather brand on September 28, 2022, bringing AerisWeather and other data services under a broader weather and environmental-information offering. AerisWeather also released MapsGL in August 2022, using vector-based WebGL mapping to support faster loading and animated visualization. The available reference material does not establish whether AerisWeather continues as a fully independent commercial brand or operates primarily as a Vaisala Xweather product identity; it does establish its continuing association with Vaisala's weather-data services.
History
AerisWeather's history combines broadcast meteorology, outsourced weather production, developer-facing data services, and later integration into Vaisala's Xweather portfolio. The earliest strategic idea attributed to the business's founder, Paul Douglas, dates to 1979, when he considered outsourcing weather production. At that time, the cost of satellite feeds was prohibitive, so the concept was deferred. Douglas revived the idea after being laid off from WCCO-TV in 2008 and founded WeatherNation. Broadband expansion had made it more practical to distribute weather content and operate outsourced production services. Douglas served as chief executive officer, while Todd Frostad served as president and co-owner. The organization hired additional meteorologists and began signing media customers, including the St. Cloud Times in summer 2009 and KARE for its Weather Now subchannel. By November 2009, it reportedly served roughly two dozen clients, including Spanish-language stations. WeatherNation's parent company also acquired HAMWeather, an Atlanta-based provider whose assets later became associated with AerisWeather. In 2010, the organization tested several broadcast and distribution initiatives. The Weather Cast was launched for Dish Network on May 20, but it closed on May 24 after Dish and The Weather Channel settled their carriage dispute. WeatherNation trademarks were licensed to Performance One Media, and the business changed its name to Broadcast Weather. The wider organization was divided into Broadcast Weather LLC, HAMWeather LLC, Smart Energy LLC, and Singular Logic. Broadcast Weather focused on television weather reports; HAMWeather worked on graphics, data streams, and mobile APIs; Smart Energy was associated with wind forecasts for wind farms; and Singular Logic was linked to advertising-technology intellectual property. The organization also worked with Insight Communications on the CN2 cable channel in Kentucky and later supplied weather video to Bay News, an iPad-oriented San Francisco news service. A major identity change occurred in 2016. Whether or Knot LLC announced the acquisition of HAMWeather's assets on August 1 and stated that AerisWeather would serve as the trade name for future API and mapping development. The former AerisWeather entity was renamed Praedictix. Under the AerisWeather name, the business developed a global RESTful weather API, programmable map layers, webhooks, combined API-and-mapping subscriptions, embeddable WeatherBlox widgets, and personal-weather-station services. The API and mapping products addressed both general weather information and specialized categories such as air quality, severe weather, tropical systems, fires, storm cells, lightning, alerts, radar, satellite, and ocean conditions. In early April 2020, AerisWeather refreshed PWSweather, a service for personal weather-station owners. Contributors could receive limited API and mapping access through the AerisWeather Contributor Plan in return for regularly supplying station data. Vaisala Group acquired AerisWeather on January 27, 2022. Later that year, Vaisala announced Xweather as a broader brand intended to unite several data services and acquisitions. AerisWeather also introduced MapsGL in August 2022, using WebGL and vector imagery for responsive weather-map rendering and animation. The available material supports the conclusion that AerisWeather became part of Vaisala's weather-data business, but does not provide enough information to determine the current legal structure, leadership, revenue, or the exact extent to which the standalone AerisWeather identity remains in market use.
- 2022
Vaisala acquires AerisWeather
[1]Vaisala Group acquired AerisWeather on January 27, 2022.
- 2022
MapsGL and Xweather are introduced
[1]AerisWeather released MapsGL in August, while Vaisala announced the Xweather umbrella brand in September.
- 2020
PWSweather is refreshed
[1]AerisWeather refreshed its personal-weather-station data service, allowing users to collect and share station information.
- 2016
AerisWeather becomes the trade name for API and mapping development
[1]Whether or Knot LLC announced its acquisition of HAMWeather assets and selected AerisWeather as the trade name for future weather API and mapping products.
- 2010
The Weather Cast briefly operates on Dish Network
[1]The Weather Cast launched on May 20 and ceased operations on May 24 after Dish and The Weather Channel reached a carriage agreement.
- 2010
The business is reorganized into multiple units
[1]Following the licensing of WeatherNation trademarks, the organization was divided into Broadcast Weather, HAMWeather, Smart Energy, and Singular Logic.
- 2009
WeatherNation expands its client base and acquires HAMWeather
[1]WeatherNation signed early media customers and its parent company acquired HAMWeather, an Atlanta-based weather-technology business.
- 2008
WeatherNation is founded
[1]After leaving WCCO-TV, Paul Douglas founded WeatherNation as broadband distribution made outsourced weather production more feasible.
- 1979
Paul Douglas conceives an outsourced weather-production model
[1]Paul Douglas reportedly developed the initial idea of outsourcing weather production, but postponed it because satellite-feed costs were too high.
Products and positioning
Developer-oriented global weather data, mapping, and meteorological technology services for commercial and enterprise applications.
Weather data API
AerisWeather API
A global RESTful API intended for business, enterprise, and software-development use. It provides historical, current, and forecast weather information and includes endpoints covering conditions, forecasts, alerts, air quality, tropical cyclones, storm cells, fires, and lightning. Webhooks can help customers monitor changing conditions or alert states for defined locations or geographic boundaries.
Weather mapping
AerisWeather Maps
A programmable mapping service for displaying meteorological and environmental information inside custom applications. Available layers include base maps, radar, satellite imagery, alerts, storm threats, storm cells, severe weather, tropical systems, lightning, forecasts, air quality, outlooks, and ocean information.
Bundled data and mapping subscription
AerisWeather Flex
A bundled offering that combines access to the AerisWeather API and AerisWeather Maps under one subscription arrangement, intended for customers needing both machine-readable data and visual map layers.
WebGL weather mapping · 2022
AerisWeather MapsGL
A WebGL-based mapping option released in 2022. Its vector-image approach is intended to improve loading performance and enable smooth, continuous weather animations across AerisWeather's available data layers.
Lightning data
Lightning Add-On
A premium API and mapping add-on providing lightning data and visualizations associated with Vaisala's global lightning network.
Embeddable weather widgets
WeatherBlox
Embeddable weather components powered by the AerisWeather API and mapping services. The offering is intended to let digital publishers and application operators add weather displays without building every presentation layer from scratch.
Personal weather-station data
PWSweather
A service for personal weather-station owners to collect, share, monitor, manage, and archive station data. Contributors may receive limited API and mapping access through the AerisWeather Contributor Plan when they regularly provide station observations.
Brand decisions
2022
Acquisition by Vaisala GroupM&ABackground
AerisWeather operated as a provider of weather data, APIs, and mapping technology for global users.
Action taken
Vaisala Group acquired AerisWeather on January 27, 2022.
Aftermath
Vaisala later positioned AerisWeather and other data services within the Xweather umbrella brand.
2022
Release of MapsGLProduct launchBackground
Weather applications increasingly required responsive interactive maps and fluid animation across multiple data layers.
Action taken
AerisWeather released MapsGL, using WebGL and vector image files for weather-map rendering.
Aftermath
The product was presented as a faster-loading option supporting smooth weather animations and access to AerisWeather data layers.
2016
Acquisition of HAMWeather assetsM&ABackground
Whether or Knot LLC sought to develop its weather API and mapping activities around the assets and capabilities associated with HAMWeather.
Action taken
Whether or Knot LLC acquired HAMWeather's assets and designated AerisWeather as the trade name for future API and mapping development.
Aftermath
The former AerisWeather entity was renamed Praedictix, while AerisWeather became the outward-facing name for the API and mapping product direction.
2010
Launch of The Weather CastProduct launchBackground
Dish Network was involved in a carriage dispute with The Weather Channel and considered dropping that channel amid disagreement over retransmission payments and programming direction.
Action taken
WeatherNation launched The Weather Cast on Dish Network on May 20, 2010.
Aftermath
The service closed on May 24 after Dish and The Weather Channel reached a multiyear carriage agreement.
- The Weather Channel — The Weather Channel reached a new multiyear carriage agreement with Dish Network, ending the immediate basis for the replacement channel.
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