Hi,
The only US weather data that is available free for commercial use is the US National Weather Service. I'd like to use it. Is there a Ruby/Rails library for accessing it?
Perl would also be helpful. They provide a Perl example. I'd use it as a guide for writing the Ruby version.
There is a Perl CPAN module called Weather-NWS which uses the NDFD.
/I3az/
Have a look at http://codewordstudios.com/posts/2-introducing-weatherman-a-ruby-gem. It does not use the National Weather Service though.
The NDFD is a SOAP-based web service. Just use a Ruby SOAP client to send it the right information and handle the response. Did you have a question about using SOAP from Ruby?
It depends on what you're wanting to do.
If you just want a widget for a location or two the SOAP interface is fine.
If you want a large amount of data (or many locations) then NOAA wants you to download the raw grib2 data (updated) hourly. A simple batch job works for that.
The NWS provides a RESTful web service in addition to the SOAP service, but if your needs are simple, consider the outoftime-noaa gem on github. It provides a straightforward interface for obtaining forecast and current conditions data.
(Be warned that one of its dependencies is not yet compatible with Ruby 1.9.)