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noaa-climate-mcp-server

by io.github.cyanheads
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Search NOAA Storm Events

noaa_climate_search_storm_events
Read-only

Search the NCEI Storm Events Database for one calendar year — tornadoes, hail, floods, hurricanes, winter storms, heat, and every other NWS Storm Data event type, with magnitude, direct and indirect casualties, property and crop damage, and narratives. This corpus carries discrete severe-weather events rather than CDO station observations, needs no token, and publishes one bulk file per year, so year is required. Filter by episodeId from a returned event, state (full NCEI name such as "FLORIDA", not "FL"), eventType (exact NWS label such as "Tornado", "Flash Flood", or "Hurricane (Typhoon)", case-insensitive), begin month, inclusive local-calendar startDate/endDate overlap, and minDamageInUsd. Date bounds exclude missing, invalid, or reversed source spans before damage accounting, totals, and paging; cross-year bounds still search only the selected year export. Damage retains its raw magnitude-suffixed cell and parsed dollar amount; unreported figures are omitted, and minDamageInUsd discloses how many unknown figures it excluded. Events reference distinct page-local episodeNarratives by episodeNarrativeRef; eventNarrative stays on each event, and rendered narratives preserve literal source text. Optional local ISO beginDate/endDate values can feed CDO date filters; raw NCEI date-time and timezone remain available. Source row order, limit/offset pagination, and filtered totalCount are preserved; appliedDateRange echoes supplied bounds.

Input Schema

NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
yearYesCalendar year to search (1950 through the current partial year). Required — NCEI publishes one file per year, so an unscoped search would download every year back to 1950.
limitNoMaximum events per page (1–100, default 50). Oversized positive integers are clamped to 100 with a notice; NOAA_CLAMP_LIMITS=false restores rejection above 100.
monthNoFilter to events whose begin date falls in this month (1–12). Optional.
stateNoFilter to this state or territory, written as the full name NCEI uses (e.g. "FLORIDA", "PUERTO RICO"), matched case-insensitively. Postal codes like "FL" match nothing. Optional.
offsetNoZero-based index of the first matching event to return. Defaults to 0.
endDateNoInclusive local-calendar upper bound (YYYY-MM-DD): an event must begin on or before this date. Rows without both valid ordered endpoints are excluded. Cross-year intervals are allowed; only year selects the export.
episodeIdNoExact EPISODE_ID from a returned event. Surrounding whitespace is trimmed; blank means no filter. Leading zeros are significant. Keep year supplied.
eventTypeNoFilter to this NWS event type, matched case-insensitively against the exact label (e.g. "Tornado", "Hail", "Flash Flood", "Hurricane (Typhoon)"). A miss returns the labels present in that year. Optional.
startDateNoInclusive local-calendar lower bound (YYYY-MM-DD): an event must end on or after this date. Rows without both valid ordered endpoints are excluded. Only the selected year export is searched.
minDamageInUsdNoFilter to events whose property damage parses to at least this many dollars. Excludes every row whose damage NCEI did not report — about a fifth of a recent year — since an unreported figure cannot be shown to clear the threshold. Optional.

Output Schema

NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
capNoThe limit that was applied. Omitted otherwise.
yearNoThe calendar year searched.
errorNoPresent when the call failed. Absent on success.
shownNoEvents returned on this page. Omitted otherwise.
eventsNoMatching events for the requested page, in the source file’s own row order.
noticeNoClamp disclosure and guidance for truncation, no matches, or exhausted pages. Omitted when none applies.
exhaustedNoTrue when offset is past the end of a non-empty match set — the page is empty but matches exist. Omitted otherwise.
truncatedNoTrue when more matches exist beyond this page. Omitted otherwise.
sourceFileNoThe exact NCEI file this page was read from, including its `_c<publishDate>` suffix — the suffix changes whenever NCEI republishes a year.
totalCountNoEvents matching every filter across the whole year, before offset and limit.
scannedRowCountNoRows read from the source file, matched or not. Omitted when unavailable.
appliedDateRangeNoThe applied inclusive local-calendar overlap interval. Omitted when neither bound was supplied; year still selects one export.
episodeNarrativesNoEach distinct episode narrative on this page, once; referenced by events[].episodeNarrativeRef.
excludedUnknownDamageNoRows that satisfied every other filter but were dropped by minDamageInUsd because NCEI reported no property-damage figure for them. Omitted when minDamageInUsd was not supplied.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

  1. Changed9 schema fields changed
    • addedInput schema / properties / endDate
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Inclusive local-calendar upper bound (YYYY-MM-DD): an event must begin on or before this date. Rows without both valid ordered endpoints are excluded. Cross-year intervals are allowed; only year selects the export.",
+  "format": "date",
+  "pattern": "^(?:(?:\\d\\d[2468][048]|\\d\\d[13579][26]|\\d\\d0[48]|[02468][048]00|[13579][26]00)-02-29|\\d{4}-(?:(?:0[13578]|1[02])-(?:0[1-9]|[12]\\d|3[01])|(?:0[469]|11)-(?:0[1-9]|[12]\\d|30)|(?:02)-(?:0[1-9]|1\\d|2[0-8])))$",
+  "type": "string"
+}
    • addedInput schema / properties / episodeId / pattern
      Added value: +"^\\s*(?:\\d+\\s*)?$"
    • changedInput schema / properties / limit / description
      Previous value: -"Maximum number of events to return (1–100). Defaults to 50."New value: +"Maximum events per page (1–100, default 50). Oversized positive integers are clamped to 100 with a notice; NOAA_CLAMP_LIMITS=false restores rejection above 100."
    • changedInput schema / properties / limit / maximum
      Previous value: -100New value: +9007199254740991
    • addedInput schema / properties / startDate
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Inclusive local-calendar lower bound (YYYY-MM-DD): an event must end on or after this date. Rows without both valid ordered endpoints are excluded. Only the selected year export is searched.",
+  "format": "date",
+  "pattern": "^(?:(?:\\d\\d[2468][048]|\\d\\d[13579][26]|\\d\\d0[48]|[02468][048]00|[13579][26]00)-02-29|\\d{4}-(?:(?:0[13578]|1[02])-(?:0[1-9]|[12]\\d|3[01])|(?:0[469]|11)-(?:0[1-9]|[12]\\d|30)|(?:02)-(?:0[1-9]|1\\d|2[0-8])))$",
+  "type": "string"
+}
    • addedOutput schema / properties / appliedDateRange
      Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "description": "The applied inclusive local-calendar overlap interval. Omitted when neither bound was supplied; year still selects one export.",
+  "properties": {
+    "endDate": {
+      "description": "Inclusive upper overlap bound supplied by the caller.",
+      "format": "date",
+      "pattern": "^(?:(?:\\d\\d[2468][048]|\\d\\d[13579][26]|\\d\\d0[48]|[02468][048]00|[13579][26]00)-02-29|\\d{4}-(?:(?:0[13578]|1[02])-(?:0[1-9]|[12]\\d|3[01])|(?:0[469]|11)-(?:0[1-9]|[12]\\d|30)|(?:02)-(?:0[1-9]|1\\d|2[0-8])))$",
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "startDate": {
+      "description": "Inclusive lower overlap bound supplied by the caller.",
+      "format": "date",
+      "pattern": "^(?:(?:\\d\\d[2468][048]|\\d\\d[13579][26]|\\d\\d0[48]|[02468][048]00|[13579][26]00)-02-29|\\d{4}-(?:(?:0[13578]|1[02])-(?:0[1-9]|[12]\\d|3[01])|(?:0[469]|11)-(?:0[1-9]|[12]\\d|30)|(?:02)-(?:0[1-9]|1\\d|2[0-8])))$",
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "type": "object"
+}
    • changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description
      Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `year_unavailable`: The NCEI directory listing has no details file for the requested year. `service_unavailable`: The NCEI bulk file server would not hand back a usable file: the directory index is unreachable or carried no details files, the year bundle it names is gone, or the downloaded bundle did not decompress. `malformed_export`: The year decompressed but is not the expected table — required columns are missing, or the file carried no rows. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `invalid_date_range`: startDate is later than endDate. `year_unavailable`: The NCEI directory listing has no details file for the requested year. `service_unavailable`: The NCEI bulk file server would not hand back a usable file: the directory index is unreachable or carried no details files, the year bundle it names is gone, or the downloaded bundle did not decompress. `malformed_export`: The year decompressed but is not the expected table — required columns are missing, or the file carried no rows. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."
    • changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / examples
      Previous value: -[
-  "year_unavailable",
-  "service_unavailable",
-  "malformed_export"
-]New value: +[
+  "invalid_date_range",
+  "year_unavailable",
+  "service_unavailable",
+  "malformed_export"
+]
    • changedOutput schema / properties / notice / description
      Previous value: -"Guidance when nothing matched or the page ran past the end. Omitted otherwise."New value: +"Clamp disclosure and guidance for truncation, no matches, or exhausted pages. Omitted when none applies."
  2. Changed7 schema fields changed
    • addedInput schema / properties / episodeId
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Exact EPISODE_ID from a returned event. Surrounding whitespace is trimmed; blank means no filter. Leading zeros are significant. Keep year supplied.",
+  "type": "string"
+}
    • changedOutput schema / anyOf
      Previous value: -[
-  {
-    "not": {
-      "required": [
-        "error"
-      ]
-    },
-    "required": [
-      "year",
-      "sourceFile",
-      "events",
-      "totalCount"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "required": [
-      "error"
-    ]
-  }
-]New value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "year",
+      "sourceFile",
+      "events",
+      "episodeNarratives",
+      "totalCount"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]
    • addedOutput schema / properties / episodeNarratives
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Each distinct episode narrative on this page, once; referenced by events[].episodeNarrativeRef.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "description": "One distinct episode narrative on this page.",
+    "properties": {
+      "ref": {
+        "description": "Page-local narrative reference, e.g. n1.",
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "text": {
+        "description": "Distinct nonblank episode narrative text, preserved from the service.",
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "ref",
+      "text"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}
    • addedOutput schema / properties / events / items / properties / beginDate
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Local ISO calendar start date (YYYY-MM-DD), usable with CDO date filters. Omitted when source components are missing or invalid.",
+  "type": "string"
+}
    • addedOutput schema / properties / events / items / properties / endDate
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Local ISO calendar end date (YYYY-MM-DD). Omitted when source components are missing or invalid; not a UTC conversion.",
+  "type": "string"
+}
    • removedOutput schema / properties / events / items / properties / episodeNarrative
      Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Narrative for the whole storm episode, shared by every event in it. Omitted when absent.",
-  "type": "string"
-}
    • addedOutput schema / properties / events / items / properties / episodeNarrativeRef
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Reference to this page’s episodeNarratives text. Omitted when no narrative was reported.",
+  "type": "string"
+}
  3. Changed6 schema fields changed
    • changedInput schema / $schema
      Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"
    • addedInput schema / additionalProperties
      Added value: +false
    • changedOutput schema / $schema
      Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"
    • addedOutput schema / anyOf
      Added value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "year",
+      "sourceFile",
+      "events",
+      "totalCount"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]
    • addedOutput schema / properties / error
      Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": {},
+  "description": "Present when the call failed. Absent on success.",
+  "properties": {
+    "code": {
+      "description": "JSON-RPC error code for this failure.",
+      "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+      "minimum": -9007199254740991,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "data": {
+      "additionalProperties": {},
+      "properties": {
+        "reason": {
+          "description": "Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `year_unavailable`: The NCEI directory listing has no details file for the requested year. `service_unavailable`: The NCEI bulk file server would not hand back a usable file: the directory index is unreachable or carried no details files, the year bundle it names is gone, or the downloaded bundle did not decompress. `malformed_export`: The year decompressed but is not the expected table — required columns are missing, or the file carried no rows. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler.",
+          "examples": [
+            "year_unavailable",
+            "service_unavailable",
+            "malformed_export"
+          ],
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "recovery": {
+          "additionalProperties": {},
+          "description": "Actionable next step for the caller.",
+          "properties": {
+            "hint": {
+              "type": "string"
+            }
+          },
+          "required": [
+            "hint"
+          ],
+          "type": "object"
+        },
+        "retryable": {
+          "description": "Whether retrying may succeed.",
+          "type": "boolean"
+        }
+      },
+      "type": "object"
+    },
+    "message": {
+      "description": "Human-readable description of what went wrong.",
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "code",
+    "message"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}
    • removedOutput schema / required
      Removed value: -[
-  "year",
-  "sourceFile",
-  "events",
-  "totalCount"
-]
  4. Added

TDQS

A4.4/5.0
Behavior5/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Beyond the read-only and open-world annotations, the description discloses substantial behavior: no token is needed, the source is one file per year, date bounds exclude missing or reversed spans, cross-year bounds search only the selected year, unknown damage figures are omitted, and pagination plus appliedDateRange are preserved. This is unusually rich behavioral context for a read-only search tool.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

The purpose and year requirement are front-loaded, and most sentences carry useful filtering or behavioral detail. The description is still a dense single paragraph, with some return-value detail that could be left to the output schema, so it is not maximally concise.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a 10-parameter tool with an output schema, the description covers the required year scope, filtering semantics, missing-data handling, cross-year behavior, pagination, and return references. An agent has enough context to call it correctly without opening additional documentation.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 100%, so the schema already documents every parameter, including state naming, eventType labels, date semantics, episodeId usage, and damage exclusions. The description reinforces a few filter behaviors but adds little parameter-level meaning beyond what the schema provides.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The description states a specific verb and resource: search the NCEI Storm Events Database for severe-weather event types with casualties, damage, and narratives. It also distinguishes the corpus from CDO station observations, which helps separate it from sibling climate-data tools.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines4/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

It explains that year is required because NCEI publishes one bulk file per year, and it positions this tool for discrete severe-weather events rather than CDO station observations. The alternative is described by category rather than by a named sibling tool, so it falls short of fully explicit when-versus-which guidance.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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