Microproduct Data GuideIntermediate

DWD Germany CAP Warnings

Official German weather-warning CAP files from DWD for monitoring current municipal alert status and affected area.

Start the Guide Open Official Source
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At a Glance

Difficulty
Intermediate — some data preparation helps
Size
Tiny · ≤0.01 GB
Formats
ZIP, XML
Access
Download
API Key
Not Required
Provider
Deutscher Wetterdienst
Updates
Near Real Time
Last Verified
Sep 28, 2026
Source Type
Government Source
Data Terms
CC BY 4.0 with Deutscher Wetterdienst attribution.
  • Python Syntax Checked

From Source to Product Signal

Test a Product Idea in Four Steps

DWD publishes versioned and latest CAP ZIP snapshots for German municipal warnings. Start with one latest English status ZIP and list at most five contained files. An empty ZIP is a valid current state, not a provider outage or a general all-clear outside the product's reviewed coverage.

1

Check the Setup

  • Python 3.10 or newer
  • An internet connection
  • The requests Python package
2

Access the Data

  1. 1.Read DWD's CAP directory, profile documentation, and attribution terms.
  2. 2.Download one latest English status ZIP.
  3. 3.Inspect CAP status, revision, and geometry before any alert display.
Open Official Source
3

Run the Python Example

Install the packages, then run the notebook cell.

python -m pip install requests

from io import BytesIO
from zipfile import ZipFile
import requests

url = ("https://opendata.dwd.de/weather/alerts/cap/COMMUNEUNION_EVENT_STAT/"
       "Z_CAP_C_EDZW_LATEST_PVW_STATUS_PREMIUMEVENT_COMMUNEUNION_EN.zip")
response = requests.get(url, timeout=30)
response.raise_for_status()
with ZipFile(BytesIO(response.content)) as archive:
    names = archive.namelist()
print(f"{len(names)} CAP files in the current status ZIP")
print(names[:5])
4

Test a Useful Signal

Inspect German CAP Status

Check a bounded official warning snapshot before local matching.

  1. 01Retain CAP identifiers, message status, update references, and regions.
  2. 02Handle cancellations and empty current snapshots correctly.
  3. 03Explain why a snapshot does not cover every kind of civil emergency.

Related Datasets

Dataset Details

Deutscher Wetterdienst is a government source. Last verified 2026-09-28. Temporal coverage: current CAP warning status snapshots.

Geography

Germany

Formats

ZIPXML

Provider

Deutscher Wetterdienst

Data Terms

CC BY 4.0 with Deutscher Wetterdienst attribution.

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