How to Scrape Real‑Time Weather Data with Python and BeautifulSoup

Since the winter cold snap has brought heavy snow and freezing rain across many Chinese provinces, the author proposes a practical way to monitor weather conditions using a Python web crawler.

Target Site

The scraper targets the Green Breath website, which offers free, real‑time PM2.5 data from the China Environmental Monitoring Center, along with related reports and research conclusions.

Implementation Overview

The program relies on BeautifulSoup selectors to locate information such as region, time, AQI index, primary pollutant, PM2.5 concentration, and health tips. The relevant page layout is illustrated in the following screenshot.

The HTML source shows where the target data resides, as shown in the next image.

Key Code Details

In PyCharm, the main difficulty lies in crafting the correct BeautifulSoup selector syntax. A notable edge case is that some cities may lack a pollutant entry for the day, resulting in the wuranwu attribute being absent. The script therefore includes an if check (or exception handling) to avoid errors when the data is missing.

After writing the script, you simply run it in PyCharm, input the pinyin of the desired city, and the console displays the real‑time weather information and a friendly reminder for that location.

Finally, the author advises readers to prioritize safety during the cold weather by using public transportation and minimizing driving.