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Storm Guard Android Application - Overview / Help
What does the Storm Guard application do?
Storm Guard is a free application that provides early-warning notifications when rain or snow is detected near your location.
In addition, this application gives you access to detailed weather system analysis, weather radar, current weather station observations, active weather alerts, short term forecasts, and more.
- Pan and zoom around the map to find and analyze any part of a weather system. As you pan over a weather system, a magenta circle will indicate the location of the most significant weather within the detection area. Click this magenta circle to view its details.
Notifications
- When rain or snow enters the detection area of your physical location, you will receive a notification for light, medium, or heavy weather detected in your area depending on the intensity of the system and the settings you have configured. Configure "Light" to get notified of the lightest traces of precipitation (20 dBZ or greater). If "Light" is too sensitive, configure "Medium" intensity to receive notifications for moderate or heavy precipitation (35 dBZ or greater). Configure "Heavy" if you only want notifications for the most severe storm systems passing through your detection area (50 dBZ or greater).
Example Configurations and Notification Behavior
1. Most Sensitive: Configure a 50 mile detection area, "light" precipitation intensity, and 1 hour frequency. This translates to: "If light or greater precipitation is first detected within 50 miles of my location, notify me immediately, then every hour afterwards with updates until the weather leaves my area."
2. Balanced Sensitivity: Configure a 30 mile detection area, "light" precipitation intensity, and 4 hour frequency. This translates to: "If light or greater precipitation is first detected within 30 miles of my location, notify me immediately, then every 4 hours afterwards with updates until the weather leaves my area."
3. Lowest Sensitivity: Configure a 10 mile detection area, "heavy" precipitation intensity, and 12 hour frequency. This translates to: "If heavy precipitation is first detected within 10 miles of my location, notify me immediately, then every 12 hours afterwards with updates until the weather leaves my area."
Keeping Your Location Updated
- If the app is closed and your location changes significantly, you should re-open the app at your new location to ensure you new get notifications at the new location instead of your previous location. If you are driving, you can keep the app open and toggle the 'Follow Location" mode. This feature keeps the map centered on your current location, allowing you to see any weather approaching as you move. This will also keep your notification location updated as you move. If the app is closed or minimized, the last known location will be used for notifications.
Usage
- When you open the Storm Guard application, it will automatically position the map over your current location once your location is resolved via cellular and/or GPS signals.
It is recommend that GPS locating is enabled for best detection accuracy. Once the app resolves your location, you will be registered for rain and snow notifications for that location.
- Pan and zoom around the map to find and analyze any part of a weather system. As you pan over a weather system, a magenta circle will indicate the location of the most significant weather within the detection area. Click this magenta circle to view its details.
Notifications
- When rain or snow enters the detection area of your physical location, you will receive a notification for light, medium, or heavy weather detected in your area depending on the intensity of the system and the settings you have configured. Configure "Light" to get notified of the lightest traces of precipitation (20 dBZ or greater). If "Light" is too sensitive, configure "Medium" intensity to receive notifications for moderate or heavy precipitation (35 dBZ or greater). Configure "Heavy" if you only want notifications for the most severe storm systems passing through your detection area (50 dBZ or greater).
Example Configurations and Notification Behavior
1. Most Sensitive: Configure a 50 mile detection area, "light" precipitation intensity, and 1 hour frequency. This translates to: "If light or greater precipitation is first detected within 50 miles of my location, notify me immediately, then every hour afterwards with updates until the weather leaves my area."
2. Balanced Sensitivity: Configure a 30 mile detection area, "light" precipitation intensity, and 4 hour frequency. This translates to: "If light or greater precipitation is first detected within 30 miles of my location, notify me immediately, then every 4 hours afterwards with updates until the weather leaves my area."
3. Lowest Sensitivity: Configure a 10 mile detection area, "heavy" precipitation intensity, and 12 hour frequency. This translates to: "If heavy precipitation is first detected within 10 miles of my location, notify me immediately, then every 12 hours afterwards with updates until the weather leaves my area."
Keeping Your Location Updated
- If the app is closed and your location changes significantly, you should re-open the app at your new location to ensure you new get notifications at the new location instead of your previous location. If you are driving, you can keep the app open and toggle the 'Follow Location" mode. This feature keeps the map centered on your current location, allowing you to see any weather approaching as you move. This will also keep your notification location updated as you move. If the app is closed or minimized, the last known location will be used for notifications.
User Interface
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1 - Weather Status
The weather status dashboard tells you where the most severe weather is detected in your circle, how far away it is, and in which direction it is relative to your physical location.
2 - Legends
The legend is a color-coded key that gives you an idea the values of each color in the active map overlay.
3 - Active Weather Alerts Indicator
The active weather alerts icon appears if any National Weather Service alerts have been issued over the center point of the detection area.
Click this icon to view a list of active alerts and their bulletins.
4 - Weather Detection Area
The weather detection area circle indicates the area that is analyzed for the existence of any rain or snow.
Click inside of this area to view the most significant weather cell details, which is circled in magenta (see description 5).
If notifications are enabled, the weather detection area also represents the range in which you will be first notified of significant precipitation near your last known physical location. The weather detection area border will be white for hybrid and satellite map types and black for normal and terrain map types to maximize visibility. 5 - Most Significant Weather Indicator
The most significant weather indicator is a magenta circle placed around the heaviest precipitation in the detection area. Click this circle to show full details about the weather cell with the heaviest precipitation.
6 - Map Zoom Control
The map zoom control allows you to zoom in for higher detail maps, or zoom out for a broad view of the map.
7 - Weather System Inspector Button
Press the weather system inspector button to get a full report of all weather cells in the detection circle as well as a summary of the entire weather system. Also, a short term forecast is available to let you know what
kind of weather may be occurring within the next three hours.
8 - Weather Station Observations Button
Press the weather station observations button to check the latest weather observations for the station nearest to the center point of your detection circle.
9 - Locate Current Position Button
Press the current position button to center the map over your physical location. This button may take a few seconds to work becuase the app must first locate your position via cellular or GPS signals.
10 - Animation Toggle for Map Overlays
Press the animation toggle button to animate the active map overlay. The animating layer will give you a time-lapse representation of the data. Press the animation toggle button again to stop the animation. The animation stops automatically if you leave the map screen.
11 - Map Options & Settings Button
Press the map options & settings button to open a menu of switches and options to customize the behavior of the app. You can toggle different map overlays, modify the detection area, and more from the map options screen. Click 'General Settings' or the gear icon in the top
right to manage additional settings such as notification options.
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Map Options & Settings
Click the 
icon to open Map Options & Settings.
Below is an overview of the settings you will see:
icon to open Map Options & Settings.
Below is an overview of the settings you will see:
Map Overlays
-Click on an overlay button such as 'Wind Speed' or 'Weather Radar' to place that overlay on the map. Click the same button again to remove it,
or click on a different layer button to switch layers.
-Layer Opacity: Increases or decreases the transparency of the active overlay. The minimum transparency is 25%.
-Layer Opacity: Increases or decreases the transparency of the active overlay. The minimum transparency is 25%.
Detection Area
- The detection area determines how large the scan area is for detecting and analyzing weather.
Map Features
Legends - On/Off switch for the overlay color-key on the map.
Weather Status - On/Off switch for the weather detection status at the very top of the map.
Zoom Control - On/Off switch for the map buttons used for zooming in and out.
Current Observations - On/Off switch for the current station observation button and for the active weather alerts indicator.
Weather Status - On/Off switch for the weather detection status at the very top of the map.
Zoom Control - On/Off switch for the map buttons used for zooming in and out.
Current Observations - On/Off switch for the current station observation button and for the active weather alerts indicator.
Map Behavior
Auto-Tilt Map - On/Off switch to tilt the map when the app opens.
Follow Location - On/Off switch for the feature that auto-centers the map as your physical location changes. Turn this feature on if you want to keep the app open and want the map to re-center itself over your location as you move.
Keep Map North-Up - On/Off switch to determine whether the map rotates based on the direction you are heading. The map stays north-up if toggled on. This switch can be used in combination with the Follow Location option.
Follow Location - On/Off switch for the feature that auto-centers the map as your physical location changes. Turn this feature on if you want to keep the app open and want the map to re-center itself over your location as you move.
Keep Map North-Up - On/Off switch to determine whether the map rotates based on the direction you are heading. The map stays north-up if toggled on. This switch can be used in combination with the Follow Location option.
Base Map Types
Allows you to select which style of map type you prefer to be displayed.
Normal - Road Map and Labels
Terrain - Road Map and Labels with graphical surface features shown
Hybrid - Road and Labels with satellite imagery
Satellite - Satellite imagery only
Normal - Road Map and Labels
Terrain - Road Map and Labels with graphical surface features shown
Hybrid - Road and Labels with satellite imagery
Satellite - Satellite imagery only