Capstone Project: Weather App

Project Overview

In this project, you will create a simple yet powerful Weather App that fetches real-time weather data using a free API. The application will let users input a city name and get the current temperature, weather condition, and forecast. You’ll explore how to work with external APIs, parse JSON data, and handle real-time requests.

Core Features

Accept user input for city name
Fetch weather data from a public API (e.g., OpenWeatherMap)
Display temperature, condition (e.g., clear, cloudy), and humidity
Optional: Display 3-day forecast or additional weather details
Handle errors (invalid city name, network issues, etc.) gracefully

Tools and Concepts You’ll Use

Python requests library for API calls
JSON parsing
API keys and authentication
Error handling
Optional: matplotlib for plotting temperature trends

Step-by-Step Project Breakdown

1. ➕ Get a Weather API Key

Sign up at https://openweathermap.org/
Generate your free API key

2. ✏️ Create Basic Script Structure

import requests

API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here'
BASE_URL = 'http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather'

city = input("Enter a city name: ")
request_url = f"{BASE_URL}?q={city}&appid={API_KEY}&units=metric"
response = requests.get(request_url)

if response.status_code == 200:
    data = response.json()
    weather = data['weather'][0]['description']
    temperature = data['main']['temp']
    humidity = data['main']['humidity']
    print(f"Weather: {weather}")
    print(f"Temperature: {temperature} °C")
    print(f"Humidity: {humidity}%")
else:
    print("City not found or request failed.")

3. ⚒️ Improve and Modularize the Code

Create functions for each task (fetching data, displaying output)
Add error handling for network errors and incorrect inputs

4. 🌍 Optional Enhancements

Add weather icons or emojis based on condition
Integrate a forecast API for multiple days
Create a simple GUI using tkinter
Visualize temperature trends using matplotlib

Sample Output

Enter a city name: London
Weather: light rain
Temperature: 14.32 °C
Humidity: 82%

Project Flowchart

This diagram illustrates the logic of how the app takes a city name input, calls the API, handles responses, and presents the weather information to the user.

What You’ll Learn

Making and handling API requests
Working with JSON data in Python
Structuring modular and scalable programs
Handling real-world errors and edge cases
Building real-time, data-driven applications

✈️ Next up: Final Project Wrap-Up and Tips!

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