Weather
One screen for conditions, forecasts, weather alerts, disaster reports, and an interactive weather map.
The Weather screen gathers everything weather-related for your agency into one place. Two buttons along the bottom choose how you want to look at it: Text List for readable lists you can scan in a cab or at a desk, or Visualization for an animated map with weather layers you can play across time. Inside Text List four tabs move between saved forecast locations, official alerts, a pin map and recent disasters.
Overview
The two modes
| Mode | Button | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Text List | Text List | Conditions, alerts, a pin map and disasters, as lists |
| Visualization | Visualization | An animated weather map with layers and a timeline |
The four tabs inside Text List
| Tab | Button | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Weather | View as List | Your saved forecast locations, each as a card with temperature and conditions |
| Alerts | Weather Alert | The weather zones you follow, each with a count of active alerts |
| Map | View on Map | Your locations and recent disasters as pins on a map |
| Disasters | Disaster | Recent disaster reports, newest first |
The active tab's button is highlighted in red. The Weather Alert and Disaster buttons also carry unread badges when new alerts or disaster reports have arrived and you have not looked at them.
Reading a forecast location card
| Element | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Location name | The saved place name. Your own position reads Your Location. |
| Temperature | The current temperature in your unit system |
| Weather icon | A picture of the conditions |
| Short forecast | A brief description such as "Partly Cloudy" |
| Quick-view values | The handful of measurements your agency has chosen for the card |
| Updated at | When the reading was last refreshed |
Reading a zone row on the Alerts tab
| Element | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Zone name with a count | For example "Los Angeles County Coast (2)" — the number of active alerts |
| Zone identifier | The official zone code beneath the name |
| Unread badge | A counter when alerts for that zone have arrived and not been read |
Reading a disaster row
| Element | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | Shown as M with the magnitude beneath it |
| Place | Where the event happened |
| Age | How long ago, in minutes — "4 Mins" |
| Time | The full date and time in your date format |
| Unread marker | A badge when the report is new to you |
Getting Here
- Open the app and sign in to reach Home.
- Tap Weather.
- The screen opens on the Weather tab in Text List mode, showing your saved forecast locations.
The app asks for location permission the first time so it can show conditions for where you are. Without it, Your Location cannot be filled in but your other saved locations still work.
Switching Tabs and Modes
- Tap View as List, Weather Alert, View on Map or Disaster to change tabs. You can also swipe sideways between them.
- Tap Text List or Visualization at the bottom to change mode.
What each tab does when you open it:
| Tab | On opening |
|---|---|
| View as List | Shows your saved locations from the copy on your device |
| Weather Alert | Refetches active alerts for every zone you follow, one zone at a time. Offline, it shows the last alerts it saved. |
| View on Map | Loads recent disaster data if the copy on the device is stale, then draws your locations and the disasters as pins |
| Disaster | Loads recent disaster data if needed and lists it |
While you are sitting on the Alerts or Disasters tab the app rechecks for new data about once a minute, so a screen left open in the apparatus stays current on its own.
Pull down on the Alerts or Disasters list to force a refresh immediately rather than waiting for the next automatic check.
Adding a Forecast Location
- Go to the Weather tab with View as List.
- Tap the Add (+) button and choose Add New Location.
- Search Event Location opens. Search for a place or move the map to the spot you want, then save.
- The location is added to your list and its forecast is fetched.
Adding a Weather Zone
- Go to the Alerts tab with Weather Alert.
- Tap the Add (+) button and choose Add New Zone.
- Weather Zones opens with the official list of zones. Tick the ones that cover your response area and tap Done.
- The Alerts tab refetches alerts for your new set of zones.
The Add (+) button changes what it offers depending on which tab you are on — Add New Location on the Weather tab, Add New Zone on the Alerts tab. On the Map and Disasters tabs there is nothing to add, so the button is hidden. In Visualization mode the same button opens the list of map layers instead.
Opening Details
| Tap this | You get |
|---|---|
| A forecast location card | Weather Tabs, with daily and hourly forecasts |
| A daily or hourly period inside that | Weather Details, the full set of values for one period |
| A zone row on the Alerts tab | Zone Alert Detail, the active alerts for that zone |
| A disaster row | Disaster Detail, every reported property of that event |
| A pin on the Map tab | The same detail screens — a location pin opens Weather Tabs, a disaster pin opens Disaster Detail |
Opening an alert or a disaster clears its unread badge.
Removing a Saved Location
- On the Weather tab, press and hold the location card.
- The app asks, under the heading Delete: "Are you sure you want to delete this record?"
- Confirm with Delete, or back out with Cancel.
- The card disappears and the change is saved to your account settings.
Removing a location removes it from your account, so it is gone on your other devices too once they sync. Your own position is not a saved location and cannot be deleted this way.
Visualization Mode
- Tap Visualization at the bottom.
- An interactive weather map fills the screen with a timeline bar over it.
- Tap the Add (+) button to open the list of available weather layers and pick one. The layer currently drawn is highlighted in the list.
- Use the timeline to play the layer forwards and backwards across time. See Weather Timeline for the slider, play button and settings.
One layer is drawn at a time — picking a new one replaces the current one. Temperature is the layer shown when you first open the mode. The full list is grouped into categories such as Conditions, Forecasts, Radar/Satellite, Severe, Tropical, Lightning, Air Quality, Maritime and Climate, and exactly which layers you see depends on what your agency's weather service provides.
Where the Data Comes From
| Data | Source |
|---|---|
| Conditions and forecasts for your saved locations | The National Weather Service |
| The zone list you pick from | The National Weather Service |
| Active alerts for the zones you follow | The National Weather Service |
| Disaster reports | The USGS earthquake feed |
| The animated map layers | Your agency's weather map service |
Working Offline
| Action | Offline behavior |
|---|---|
| Viewing saved forecast locations | Works from the last readings stored on your device — check Updated at to see how old they are |
| Viewing the Alerts tab | Shows the last set of alerts the app saved |
| Opening a zone's alerts | Needs a connection; the app tells you so |
| Viewing the Disasters tab | Shows the last loaded reports |
| Adding a location or zone | The place search and the zone list both need a connection |
| Removing a location | Works, and the change is queued for your account settings |
| Visualization mode | Needs a connection to fetch map frames |
How This Connects
- Where the data comes from. Forecasts, the zone list and alerts all come from the National Weather Service; disaster reports come from the USGS earthquake feed. Both are fetched directly by the app, cached on your device with a timestamp, and rechecked about once a minute while you are on the relevant tab. Your list of saved locations and followed zones is part of your account settings, so it follows you to other devices.
- Map layers. The layers in Visualization mode are the same kind of weather overlays available on the main map screens — see Map Style Options and Reference Map.
- Incidents. The weather popup on an incident's command screens draws on the same forecast data as this screen. See Command Weather Forecast.
- Adding a location. Adding a forecast location uses the same place search as a calendar event's location — see Search Event Location.
- Notifications. New alerts and disaster reports arrive as push messages, which is what fills the unread badges on the Weather Alert and Disaster buttons. Control them from Notification Settings; the history is on Notifications.
- Settings. Whether temperatures read in Fahrenheit or Celsius, and how dates are formatted, come from your account's unit system and date format in General App Settings. Which measurements appear on the cards and in the detail grids is set by your agency.
- Offline and reconnect. Cached readings are shown with their Updated at time so you always know how stale they are. Removing a location offline is queued and pushed to your account settings when the connection returns.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | What to do |
|---|---|
| Your Location is missing from the list | Location permission was declined. Grant it for the app in your phone's settings and reopen the screen. |
| A card shows an old Updated at time | You are offline, or the last refresh failed. Reconnect and reopen the tab. |
| The Alerts tab is empty | You are not following any zones yet. Tap Add (+) → Add New Zone. |
| A zone you follow shows "(0)" | There are no active alerts for it right now. That is good news. |
| Opening a zone says an internet connection is required | Alert details are fetched live. Reconnect and try again. |
| The Disasters tab is empty | There are no recent reports in the feed, or the feed could not be reached. Pull down to refresh. |
| There is no Add (+) button | You are on the Map or Disasters tab, where there is nothing to add. Switch to the Weather or Alerts tab. |
| Add (+) opens a list of layers instead | You are in Visualization mode. Tap Text List first. |
| Press-and-hold on a card does nothing | You are holding Your Location, which is not a saved record and cannot be deleted. |
| The animated map will not load | Visualization needs a connection. Switch to Text List for cached readings. |
| Temperatures are in the wrong unit | Your account's unit system is set in General App Settings. |
| Unread badges will not clear | Open the zone or the disaster itself. The badge clears when the detail screen is opened. |
Related Pages
⬅️ Previous: Weather Timeline | Next: Weather Details ➡️