Noaa MCP Server

NOAA tides and currents: water levels, tide predictions, currents, met data, flooding, sun and moon

Remote serverstreamable-http

What is the Noaa MCP server?

NOAA tides and currents: water levels, tide predictions, currents, met data, flooding, sun and moon. That is what the noaa mcp server brings to an AI assistant: the same capability, reachable through the Model Context Protocol rather than a separate app or dashboard.

The short version

Water levels · tide predictions · currents · marine weather · station metadata · tidal datums · harmonic constituents · sea level trends & projections · high tide flooding · sun & moon calculations

Getting it running

Because this one is hosted, setup is mostly authentication — you point your client at the endpoint and approve access. Nothing runs on your machine, so there is no runtime to keep patched.

The tools it exposes

The server publishes 14 tools. What each one is for:

  • noaa_get_water_levels — Observed water levels: 1-minute, 6-minute, or hourly series, preliminary/verified quality flags decoded
  • noaa_get_water_level_summaries — high_low (HH/H/L/LL daily extremes), daily_mean (Great Lakes), daily_max_min, monthly_mean datum tables
  • noaa_get_tide_predictions — Harmonic tide predictions — hilo high/low events (up to 10 years) or interval series
  • noaa_get_currents — Observed current speed/direction by depth bin (ADCP), optional beam diagnostics
  • noaa_get_current_predictions — Predicted currents — max_slack flood/ebb/slack events or interval series
  • noaa_get_meteorological_data — Wind, air/water temperature, pressure, air gap (bridge clearance), conductivity, visibility, humidity, salinity
  • noaa_search_stations — Search the station directory by capability type, name substring, state — paginated
  • noaa_find_nearest_stations — Nearest stations to any lat/lon (great-circle, cached directory), filterable by type
  • noaa_get_station_info — Full station record with expandable sensors, flood levels, benchmarks, bins, deployments..
  • noaa_get_station_datums — Tidal datum elevations (MLLW, MSL, MHHW, NAVD88...), HAT/LAT, historic extremes, current or superseded epoch
  • noaa_get_harmonic_constituents — The M2/S2/K1/... constituents behind a station's predictions (water level or current ellipse form)
  • noaa_get_prediction_offsets — Subordinate-station time/height offsets from their reference stations (tide or current)

Things to watch

  • Your data travels to the provider's service, so the usual questions apply about what you send and what they retain.
  • With 14 tools registered it takes up a noticeable share of the context window; turn it off in projects that never touch Noaa.
  • Keep per-call confirmation enabled while you learn its behaviour; it is the cheapest safeguard you have.

How it compares

Plenty of file and storage access servers cover similar ground. The differences that matter in practice are scope of access and how much setup stands between you and a working tool call. Noaa's toolset — noaa_get_water_levels, noaa_get_water_level_summaries, noaa_get_tide_predictions and 11 more — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by RyanCardin15; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.

SyncDev reviews every entry in this directory against the project's own documentation before publishing, and revisits them as servers change.

Available tools

ToolWhat it does
noaa_get_water_levelsObserved water levels: 1-minute, 6-minute, or hourly series, preliminary/verified quality flags decoded
noaa_get_water_level_summarieshigh_low (HH/H/L/LL daily extremes), daily_mean (Great Lakes), daily_max_min, monthly_mean datum tables
noaa_get_tide_predictionsHarmonic tide predictions — hilo high/low events (up to 10 years) or interval series
noaa_get_currentsObserved current speed/direction by depth bin (ADCP), optional beam diagnostics
noaa_get_current_predictionsPredicted currents — max_slack flood/ebb/slack events or interval series
noaa_get_meteorological_dataWind, air/water temperature, pressure, air gap (bridge clearance), conductivity, visibility, humidity, salinity
noaa_search_stationsSearch the station directory by capability type, name substring, state — paginated
noaa_find_nearest_stationsNearest stations to any lat/lon (great-circle, cached directory), filterable by type
noaa_get_station_infoFull station record with expandable sensors, flood levels, benchmarks, bins, deployments...
noaa_get_station_datumsTidal datum elevations (MLLW, MSL, MHHW, NAVD88...), HAT/LAT, historic extremes, current or superseded epoch
noaa_get_harmonic_constituentsThe M2/S2/K1/... constituents behind a station's predictions (water level or current ellipse form)
noaa_get_prediction_offsetsSubordinate-station time/height offsets from their reference stations (tide or current)
noaa_get_sea_level_trendsLong-term relative sea level trend with error bars and observation period
noaa_get_sea_level_rise_projections2022 Interagency SLR scenario projections per decade through 2150

How to install the Noaa MCP server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "noaa-tides-and-currents": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "npx"]
    }
  }
}

Add to claude_desktop_config.json, then restart Claude Desktop.

Example prompts to try

  • Use Noaa to noaa get water levels.
  • Use Noaa to noaa get water level summaries.
  • Use Noaa to noaa get tide predictions.

Frequently asked questions

It connects Noaa to MCP-compatible AI assistants such as Claude and Cursor, exposing 14 tools (noaa_get_water_levels, noaa_get_water_level_summaries, noaa_get_tide_predictions, and more) that the assistant can call on your behalf. Instead of copying data back and forth by hand, the assistant works with Noaa directly.