MagicMirrorOrg/MagicMirror · error · Error

Invalid grid point data

Error message

Invalid grid point data

What it means

After the points request succeeds, #fetchWeatherGovURLs expects pointsData.properties. If the JSON body lacks properties (or is not JSON/an error envelope), the provider cannot derive forecast URLs and throws "Invalid grid point data".

Source

Thrown at defaultmodules/weather/providers/weathergov.js:138

		const timeoutId = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), 120000); // 120 second timeout - DNS can be slow

		try {
			const pointsResponse = await fetch(pointsUrl, {
				signal: controller.signal,
				headers: {
					"User-Agent": "MagicMirror",
					Accept: "application/geo+json"
				}
			});

			if (!pointsResponse.ok) {
				throw new Error(`Failed to fetch grid point: HTTP ${pointsResponse.status}`);
			}

			const pointsData = await pointsResponse.json();

			if (!pointsData || !pointsData.properties) {
				throw new Error("Invalid grid point data");
			}

			// Extract location name
			const relLoc = pointsData.properties.relativeLocation?.properties;
			if (relLoc) {
				this.locationName = `${relLoc.city}, ${relLoc.state}`;
			}

			// Store forecast URLs
			this.forecastURL = `${pointsData.properties.forecast}?units=si`;
			this.forecastHourlyURL = `${pointsData.properties.forecastHourly}?units=si`;
			this.forecastGridDataURL = pointsData.properties.forecastGridData;
			this.observationStationsURL = pointsData.properties.observationStations;

			// Step 2: Get observation station URL
			const stationsResponse = await fetch(this.observationStationsURL, {
				signal: controller.signal,
				headers: {

View on GitHub (pinned to 4b4a59534f)

Solutions

1. Log pointsData before the throw to see what was actually returned.
2. Retry later if NWS is degraded — transient payloads can lack properties.
3. Verify the request URL (api.weather.gov/points/{lat},{lon}) returns properties in a browser.
4. Update MagicMirror — providers are fixed when NWS changes its schema.

Example fix

// before
if (!pointsData || !pointsData.properties) {
  throw new Error("Invalid grid point data");
}
// after — include the body for diagnosis
if (!pointsData || !pointsData.properties) {
  throw new Error(`Invalid grid point data: ${JSON.stringify(pointsData).slice(0, 200)}`);
}

// pre-flight the exact endpoint the provider will call
const r = await fetch(`https://api.weather.gov/points/${lat},${lon}`, { headers: { "User-Agent": "MagicMirror" } });
const j = await r.json();
if (!j?.properties) throw new Error("points endpoint lacks properties — NWS degraded or rate limited");

function hasGridPoint(d) {
  return !!d && typeof d === "object" && !!d.properties
    && typeof d.properties.forecast === "string";
}

try {
  await provider.initialize();
} catch (err) {
  if (err.message === "Invalid grid point data") {
    Log.warn("weathergov: unusable grid point payload — retrying later");
    scheduleRetry(10 * 60_000);
  } else { throw err; }
}

When it happens

Trigger: api.weather.gov returns 200 with an unexpected body: an API error/limit JSON, an HTML error page that still parsed, or an NWS schema change removing/renaming properties.

Common situations: Hitting api.weather.gov rate limits that return 200 with an error body via some proxies/CDNs; edge locations where the API returns an empty property set; running a stale provider against an updated NWS API.

Understand the failure class

Background: "invalid response format", "malformed payload", "missing data field": when an API returns 200 but the response shape is wrong — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• Invalid API response
• Failed to fetch grid point: HTTP ${pointsResponse.status}
• Invalid current weather data
• Failed to fetch observation stations: HTTP ${stationsRespons
• No observation stations found

AI-assisted analysis of MagicMirrorOrg/MagicMirror@4b4a59534f (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6ee52f6c1663ecdf. Report an issue: GitHub.