Watches, warnings and alert settings

1. 1Double-click Alerts (the warning triangle) on the toolbar. Alerts draw on the active panel, or on every panel of the board when Sync Alerts is on.
2. 2Single-click Alerts to open the Alerts menu. It opens on the Customize tab.
3. 3Pick a tab: Customize for alert types, styles, filters and notifications, Active alerts for a list of what is in effect, or Bundles for saved presets.
4. 4Click an alert on the map to open its popup.

Settings, Keyboard shortcuts lists Toggle alerts and Alerts settings. Neither has a key by default; assign your own to turn alerts on or off or open this menu from the keyboard.

1. 1On Customize, scroll to Alert appearance.
2. 2Pick a region chip: All regions, US, Canada or Europe. The chip only filters the list. It doesn’t hide anything on the map.
3. 3Pick a category chip, such as Severe or Winter, or All.
4. 4With a category picked, use the switch named for it, such as Show Severe on map, to show or hide every type in that category. The note beside it says whether every type is visible or some are hidden. With a region chip picked, the switch only acts on that region’s types.
5. 5To find one type, type in Search alerts… and flip the switch on its row.
6. 6Click a row (not its switch) to open that type’s fill, outline, sound and flash settings. Click Back to alerts to return to the list.

A hidden type also disappears from Active alerts and from the ticker while it follows the map, and it stops making notifications, sounds and map flashes.

1. 1On Customize, click Map visibility to expand it.
2. 2Click a button. The switches in the alert type list update to match.

1. 1Under Alert appearance, click the row of an alert type (not its switch).
2. 2Under Polygon fill, turn Show fill on or off. While fill is on, click the color swatch beside the switch to pick a color, and drag Fill opacity.
3. 3Under Outline, turn Show outline on or off, pick a Style, and set the Inner and Outer colors.
4. 4Drag Inner width (px) and Outer ÷ inner. The sample at the top of the panel previews the result while you drag.
5. 5Click Back to alerts when you are done. Changes apply to the map right away.

Built-in outlines: tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings and Flash Flood Statement draw a hazard-colored core with a black casing (inner 3 px, 1.4×). Tornado Warning (PDS), PDS watches and the (Considerable) severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings use a black casing at 1.5×. Tornado Warning (Emergency), Severe Thunderstorm Warning (Destructive) and Flash Flood Warning (Emergency) use a white core inside a hazard-colored casing at 1.6×. Anything you set yourself overrides these.

1. 1On Customize, click Global style settings to expand it.
2. 2Click Hide fill or Show fill, and Hide outline or Show outline.
3. 3Drag the sliders and pick an Outline style.
4. 4Open a single alert type in the list below if you want an exception.

Each global setting overwrites that setting on every type, including the built-in widths and casing of the default warning outlines. Outline colors aren’t changed. A setting you change afterward on a single type wins over the global one.

1. 1On Customize, click Forecast office filter (US) to expand it.
2. 2Type a three-letter office code in Add code (e.g. MKX) and press Enter or click Add. Or search with Search WFO codes… and click codes in the grid.
3. 3To filter by state, expand State filter (US) and click states in the grid, or search with Search states….
4. 4Click a selected code’s × chip to remove it, or Clear offices or Clear states to remove them all.

When both filters are set, an alert has to pass both. Either filter hides every Canadian and European alert. Products from the Storm Prediction Center (WNS), such as watches and mesoscale discussions, always pass the office filter; add a state filter or hide those types if you want fewer of them.

1. 1On Customize, find Regions.
2. 2Turn United States, Canada or Europe on or off. All three are on by default.
3. 3Under Alert appearance, click the Canada or Europe chip to list that region’s alert types, then style them like any other type.

Canadian alerts that share a name with an NWS product, such as Tornado Warning, Severe Thunderstorm Watch, Special Weather Statement, Snow Squall Warning or Winter Storm Warning, share that product’s settings, so a storm crossing the border looks the same on both sides. Canada-only types include Rainfall Warning, Snowfall Warning, Wind Warning, Freezing Rain Warning, Heat Warning, Arctic Outflow Warning and Special Air Quality Statement.

European warnings are named by level and hazard, such as Orange Wind Warning or Red Thunderstorm Warning. There are 14 hazards (wind, snow/ice, thunderstorm, fog, high and low temperature, coastal event, forest fire, avalanche, rain, flood, rain-flood, marine hazard and drought) at three levels, drawn yellow, orange and red by default.

Turning a region off hides it on the map, in Active alerts and in the ticker, and stops its notifications and sounds. An office or state filter also hides both Canada and Europe. European warnings: EUMETNET-MeteoAlarm (CC BY 4.0). Canadian alerts: Environment and Climate Change Canada, under the Open Government Licence – Canada.

1. 1Click an alert on the map.
2. 2Where alerts overlap, use the ‹ and › arrows on the sides of the popup, or swipe on a touch screen, to step through each one.
3. 3Click Details for the full bulletin text and a row of facts about the alert.
4. 4In the full text, click Copy to copy the bulletin.

Between Ends and Area, the popup lists threat details taken from the bulletin, such as maximum hail size, maximum wind gust, how a tornado was detected and the damage threat.

1. 1Turn alerts on, open the Alerts menu and click Active alerts.
2. 2Pick a region chip and a category chip to narrow the list.
3. 3Type in Search active alerts… to find an alert by type, office, state or tag.
4. 4Click a card. The map flies to the alert and turns on the nearest working NEXRAD site.

The list follows the time slider, your hidden alert types, region switches, office and state filters and the coastal zone setting. It needs the Alerts layer on a board; otherwise it reads “Open a board with the Alerts layer on the map to load live watches & warnings here.” In archive mode, clicking a card only pans the map and keeps your archived radar.

1. 1For one type: click its row, then under Sound & notification turn on Notification.
2. 2For every type at once: on Customize, expand Toasts, sounds & map flash and click Turn on notifications. It applies to every type that is visible on the map.
3. 3Set Notification display time and Notification size.
4. 4When a notification appears, click it to fly to the alert with radar on, or click its × to dismiss it.

A notification shows the alert title, how a tornado was detected (such as observed or radar indicated) under the title, the office, the affected states, tags such as issued, upgraded or extended, and the end time. Up to three stack on the board; a fourth replaces the oldest.

Notifications, sounds and map flash happen when an alert is issued, upgraded, extended or updated while the app is open. Continuations, cancellations and expirations are silent, and alerts already in effect when you open the app don’t notify. The type has to be visible on the map and pass your region, office, state and coastal zone settings. Notifications are cards inside the app, not system notifications. On a phone, alerts don’t show notifications, play sounds or flash.

1. 1Click an alert type’s row, then under Map flash turn on Flash.
2. 2Pick an Animation and what to Flash to.
3. 3Set the duration and timing.

1. 1Click an alert type’s row.
2. 2Under Sound & notification, pick a sound in the Sound menu.
3. 3Click Preview to hear it.

1. 1Sign in on a Creator plan.
2. 2Click an alert type’s row. Under Sound & notification, click Upload and choose an MP3.
3. 3When the upload finishes, the sound is assigned to that type and added to your library.
4. 4For other types, pick the file under Your MP3s in the Sound menu.
5. 5Click Preview to hear it.

Needs Creator and a signed-in account. Each file must be an MP3 of 2 MB or less and 30 seconds or shorter, and you can keep up to 24 sounds. Without Creator, Upload and the MP3 choices open the upgrade dialog, and types set to an MP3 play no sound.

In live mode, the map shows the alerts that were in effect at the slider time. On the newest frame, alerts follow the clock, so a new warning draws as soon as it is issued. US alerts arrive over a live NWWS stream that reconnects on its own and catches up when you return to the browser tab.

How far back you can scrub alerts follows the longest duration set on the board for radar, satellite, MRMS, RTMA or surface analysis, at least 1 hour and up to your plan’s radar history limit. Set a longer radar duration to load more alert history.

1. 1For a past event, switch the time bar from Live to Archive.
2. 2In Archive Builder, set the window, then check NWS alerts under Overlays. Alerts go back to 1986.
3. 3Click Apply. Alerts follow the archive playhead, and the layer shows as Archived NWS alerts in Edit Layers.

In archive mode, the Alerts button is greyed out (“Load an archive event to enable”) until an event is loaded. Archived alerts come from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM) archive. Your colors, outlines, types and filters apply to them too.

1. 1Set up alerts the way you want on Customize.
2. 2Click the Bundles tab, type a name in Name this preset… and click Save current (or press Enter).
3. 3To switch, click a bundle’s name. Your current alert settings are replaced by the bundle’s.
4. 4Click Update to overwrite a bundle with your current settings, Rename to change its name, or Delete to remove it.

A bundle stores which types are visible, colors, fill and outline settings, opacity, global style, outline style, sounds, notifications, map flash, region switches, office and state filters, the coastal zone setting, Always only display active watches & warnings, and notification time and size. It doesn’t store the menu’s size or position. Each bundle shows how many types it hides.

1. 1Double-click Alerts on the toolbar to turn alerts on, then single-click it to open the menu.
2. 2Expand Map visibility and click Turn off watches, Turn off other non-warnings and Turn off warnings. The map is now empty.
3. 3In Search alerts…, type “tornado warning”. Turn on the switches for Tornado Warning, Tornado Warning (Emergency), Tornado Warning (Observed) and Tornado Warning (PDS).
4. 4Search “severe thunderstorm warning” and turn on Severe Thunderstorm Warning, (Considerable) and (Destructive).
5. 5Expand Forecast office filter (US), type your office code, for example OUN for Norman, in Add code (e.g. MKX) and click Add.
6. 6Clear the search and click the Tornado Warning row. Set Sound to Siren (high, long) and click Preview. Turn on Notification.
7. 7Under Map flash, turn on Flash, keep Animation on Flash, and set Duration (seconds) to 30. Unless you have set them separately, the Observed, PDS and Emergency versions use the same sound, notification and flash.
8. 8Click Back to alerts, open Severe Thunderstorm Warning, set Sound to Chime and turn on Notification.
9. 9Expand Toasts, sounds & map flash and set Notification display time to Until dismissed.
10. 10On Bundles, name it “OUN warnings” and click Save current.

1. 1Open the Alerts menu and expand Global style settings.
2. 2Click Hide fill. Set Inner width (px) to 3 and Outer ÷ inner thickness to 1.6×.
3. 3Open Tornado Watch, turn Show fill on and set Fill opacity to 15%. Do the same for Severe Thunderstorm Watch.
4. 4Tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings already have a black casing. To match them, open Special Weather Statement (Convective) and set Outer to black. Do the same for any other type you want to stand out.
5. 5Expand Toasts, sounds & map flash and click Use slow pulse. Every visible type now pulses for 10 seconds when issued.
6. 6Open Tornado Warning and, under Map flash, set Flash color to yellow and Duration (seconds) to 60.
7. 7Save it on Bundles as “Chase outlines”.

A data bundle, workflow or scene that carries alerts applies them when it loads without saving them over your account settings. If you then change an alert setting, everything you see, including the loaded alerts, is what gets saved. Applying an alert bundle from the Bundles tab saves it as your current settings.