Add caching to /weather endpoint to reduce API calls

backend/__init__.py

@@ -1,2 +1,13 @@
 # intentionally left empty — makes backend a package for making
-# it as importable from the outside
+# it as importable from the outside
+
+from flask import Flask
+from flask_caching import Cache
+
+app = Flask(__name__)
+
+# Simple in‑memory cache, 5 min default timeout
+cache = Cache(app, config={'CACHE_TYPE': 'SimpleCache', 'CACHE_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT': 300})
+
+# Import routes after app + cache are ready
+from backend import alertsystem

backend/alertsystem.py

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 import sys
 import requests
 
+from flask import request, jsonify
+from backend import app, cache
 from dotenv import load_dotenv
 
 load_dotenv()
@@ -107,6 +109,36 @@ def frontend_files(filename):
 CYCLONE_RISK_THRESHOLD   = 0.60
 DROUGHT_RISK_THRESHOLD   = 0.70
 
+
+OPENWEATHER_API_KEY = "YOUR_KEY"
+
+@app.route("/weather")
+def weather():
+    city = request.args.get("city")
+    state = request.args.get("state")
+    country = request.args.get("country")
+
+    if not city or not country:
+        return jsonify({"error": "Missing required fields"}), 400
+
+    # Build cache key
+    cache_key = f"weather:{city}:{state}:{country}"
+
+    # Check cache first
+    cached = cache.get(cache_key)
+    if cached:
+        return jsonify(cached)
+
+    # If not cached, call OpenWeatherMap
+    url = f"http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?q={city},{state},{country}&appid={OPENWEATHER_API_KEY}"
+    resp = requests.get(url)
+    data = resp.json()
+
+    # Store in cache
+    cache.set(cache_key, data)
+
+    return jsonify(data)
+
 # =========================================================
 # GET LOCATION COORDINATES (Nominatim / OpenStreetMap)
 # =========================================================