Customized weather alerts

October 1, 2012 8:01 AM

Where can I get a customized weather alert?

I'd like to receive an email message or an RSS item (not a text message - have no smartphone) when the weather forecast for a particular place met certain criteria. I can only find alerts for severe conditions -- typhoons, tornadoes, blizzards, floods.
For example, when the forecast for Wednesday in Toronto was going to be above 18° C with a probability of precipitation below 50% and sunny skies, I'd like an email message.

I've looked at this question and Yahoo Pipes and IFTTT look good. And this question doesn't seem to be quite what I want.

Has anyone done anything like that using Pipes or IFTTT? Is it as easy as it looks?

Or does any web site or weather service already do what I want?

posted by feelinggood to computers & internet (4 answers total)

IFTTT can only do a simple test. It can notify you if the temperature is > 18° C, say, or if it's going to rain, but not a dual/multiple test (as far as I know).

You can have it generate a message that contains the condition, temperature, etc., but the test has to be a single test.
posted by Fortran at 8:20 AM on October 1, 2012

A really messy solution that I'm pretty sure is possible but wouldn't have the expertise to carry out: You could (probably) set up a dummy email account to receive single-item notices ">18C" and "<50% rain", and then a script to check that incoming mail and send an alert to your real account if both notifications are present. I don't know enough about processing incoming email to know how to do that, though.
posted by aimedwander at 8:38 AM on October 1, 2012

The Weather Channel has email or sms alerts for severe weather. I've used it for years and it works great, the only annoyance is that you sometimes get 8 emails in an hour as they update conditions.
posted by susanvance at 8:51 AM on October 1, 2012

Dark Sky has an API that can give you point-specific information. It's typically extremely accurate in the short-term.
posted by tmcw at 9:35 AM on October 1, 2012