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Make a Weather Animation with Gifbox

Turn any weather layer into an animated GIF over a labeled base map with a single URL. No code: open it in a browser, put it on a page, or download it.

Oct 9, 2026 · HTML · Shell

Gifbox makes a finished weather animation from a single URL: an animated GIF of any weather layer, drawn over a labeled base map, with the time of each frame and the MyRadar logo. There's no code to write. Open the URL in your browser, put it in an <img> tag, or download it.

A gifbox animation of radar over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico
A gifbox animation of radar over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico

That animation is this URL:

Text
https://api.myradar.dev/v1/layers/gifbox/2minMRMSPrecipRate/20261009.0912/29.5/-85.5/600/400/6?subscription-key=YOUR_KEY

You'll need a MyRadar API key. Replace YOUR_KEY in any URL on this page with your own.

1. Read the URL#

Every gifbox URL has the same parts:

Text
https://api.myradar.dev/v1/layers/gifbox/{layer}/{valid_time}/{lat}/{lon}/{width}/{height}/{zoom}?subscription-key=YOUR_KEY
PartIn the exampleWhat it sets
layer2minMRMSPrecipRateWhich weather layer to animate: here, radar precipitation rate.
valid_time20261009.0912The time of the first frame: YYYYmmdd.HHMM, in UTC.
lat, lon29.5, -85.5The center of the map.
width, height600, 400The size of the GIF in pixels.
zoom6The map's zoom level, as on a web map: higher numbers show a smaller area in more detail.
subscription-keyYOUR_KEYYour MyRadar API key.

Paste a URL into your browser's address bar and the animation plays straight away. It takes a second or two to generate.

2. Pick the layer and the time#

The animation runs forward from valid_time, one frame per time step of the layer, for 8 frames. So the example above starts at 09:12 UTC and, with radar's 2-minute time step, ends at 09:26.

Two lookups tell you what to put in the URL. Both are URLs you can open in your browser too:

  • Every layer name: https://api.myradar.dev/v1/layers/listlayers?subscription-key=YOUR_KEY
  • A layer's time step, as time_step in seconds: https://api.myradar.dev/v1/layers/layerinfo/2minMRMSPrecipRate?subscription-key=YOUR_KEY

When you write the time yourself, two rules keep the animation from coming back blank:

  • Use a time on the layer's time step. For a 2-minute radar layer that's an even minute (0912, not 0913); for a 15-minute layer it's 00, 15, 30 or 45. A time between steps still returns a GIF, but with an empty map.
  • For radar, keep every frame in the past. Radar data appears about 5 minutes after it's observed, so for the latest 8 frames of a 2-minute layer, start about 20 minutes ago. A radar time in the future also returns an empty map.

3. Go back in time#

Layer data is kept historically, so any past time works. This is the line of storms that crossed Iowa on 21 May 2024:

Text
https://api.myradar.dev/v1/layers/gifbox/2minMRMSPrecipRate/20240521.2006/41.3/-94.5/600/400/7?subscription-key=YOUR_KEY
A gifbox animation of the 21 May 2024 storms over western Iowa
A gifbox animation of the 21 May 2024 storms over western Iowa

4. Animate a forecast#

Forecast layers accept times in the future, so the animation can start now and run ahead. Forecast15minHRRRPrecipRate is the HRRR model's precipitation forecast, every 15 minutes, so 8 frames cover the next 1 hour 45 minutes:

Text
https://api.myradar.dev/v1/layers/gifbox/Forecast15minHRRRPrecipRate/20261009.0930/29.5/-85.5/600/400/6?subscription-key=YOUR_KEY
A gifbox animation of the HRRR precipitation forecast for the next 1 hour 45 minutes
A gifbox animation of the HRRR precipitation forecast for the next 1 hour 45 minutes

5. Change the frames and the map#

Two optional settings go after the key, each joined with &:

SettingDefaultWhat it does
num_images8Number of frames, one per time step of the layer.
map_styledarkBase map style: dark or light.

For example, the same radar on the light base map, which suits light pages:

Text
https://api.myradar.dev/v1/layers/gifbox/2minMRMSPrecipRate/20261009.0912/29.5/-85.5/600/400/6?subscription-key=YOUR_KEY&map_style=light
The same radar animation on the light base map
The same radar animation on the light base map

6. Put it on a page#

The response is a standard animated GIF that loops on its own, so the URL works anywhere an image does. On a web page, use it as the src of an <img>:

HTML
<img
  src="https://api.myradar.dev/v1/layers/gifbox/2minMRMSPrecipRate/20261009.0912/29.5/-85.5/600/400/6?subscription-key=YOUR_KEY"
  width="600" height="400" alt="Radar animation of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico">

Keep two things in mind:

  • Your key is visible. Anyone can read it in your page's source, so use a key issued for that website.
  • A URL always shows the same moment. The times are part of the URL, so the animation doesn't update by itself. To keep a page current, update the time in the URL whenever you refresh the page's content, for example from your content management system or a scheduled job.

7. Download it#

To save the GIF as a file, for an email, a slide or a social post, download the URL with curl. Quote the URL so the shell doesn't act on the & characters:

Shell
curl -o radar.gif "https://api.myradar.dev/v1/layers/gifbox/2minMRMSPrecipRate/20261009.0912/29.5/-85.5/600/400/6?subscription-key=YOUR_KEY&map_style=light"

Or send the key in a header instead of the URL, which keeps it out of your shell history and logs:

Shell
curl -o radar.gif -H "Subscription-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://api.myradar.dev/v1/layers/gifbox/2minMRMSPrecipRate/20261009.0912/29.5/-85.5/600/400/6"

Next steps#