Weather Relay · Documentation

Weather Relay user guide

Current availability: Weather Relay is in private review for Mac. This guide documents the reviewed experience and is not a public-download announcement, release commitment, or support promise for an unissued edition.

Receive, read, listen and compare weather products on your Mac.

Weather Relay downloads original bulletins and images directly from NOAA/NWS archives, organizes them in your local library and gives you tools to read text, hear passages and view retained map versions. The original product, its source and its recorded times stay available for inspection.

Use the issuing agency’s current channels and the original product’s action, coverage and validity times for warning decisions. Use Weather Relay’s receiver status, source clocks and history notices to understand the material your Mac has collected.

eEMWIN and your information

EMWIN is NOAA’s Emergency Managers Weather Information Network. The National Weather Service distributes weather, water and climate products through it. The Internet archive service, eEMWIN, groups recent text bulletins and images into downloadable files. Emergency managers, public-safety teams, broadcasters, educators, weather professionals and the public use the information for weather awareness.

Products originate with local NWS offices, river forecast centers, national forecast centers and participating U.S. and international agencies. Weather Relay downloads directly from the NWS Internet service into your local library. Its intake covers warnings, watches, advisories, forecasts, observations, weather maps and imagery. It processes the files in each archive it accepts: TXT bulletins, supported GIF/PNG/JPEG images and other received bytes under Other files. Repeated originals consolidate reception records. Product/location filters choose the view after intake; archive availability and configured download/storage/retention limits shape the retained collection.

Text checks run every two minutes and image checks every fifteen minutes. Recent-history backfill requests three-hour text and one-hour image archives when available. Use the original’s issue/observation time, validity, area and legend alongside receiver status and history notices. Read About EMWIN, products and users, or the Internet service description for official background.

Start and stop collection

Click Start receiving after your library is ready. Keep the Mac awake and connected to the internet. The app checks bulletins about every two minutes and weather maps about every fifteen minutes. Separate backfill requests seek recent earlier material; archive availability determines what those requests return. Read the status and history notices when a connection, archive or backfill request needs attention.

Click Stop receiving and wait for Stopped. Close the local viewer separately with Close local viewer and wait for its stopped status. Each control reports the state of its own work.

In Settings, choose Resume receiving when the application opens to save automatic receiving for later opens, then select Done. A fresh Store-edition setup starts with manual receiving. Start when I log in reflects the app’s macOS login registration. Change that registration in the app or macOS Login Items; treat it as a separate choice from the saved receiving preference. A session receiving before sleep attempts to resume after wake and records the interruption. Inspect the subsequent collection status and gaps.

Choose and manage your library

On first setup, the Store edition creates a fresh local library in its application-support folder. Later opens use the saved Store-edition library and its accepted settings. Settings → Saved weather history displays the current location; Open saved files opens it in Finder. Keep earlier review-edition history in its original folder with its matching app. Use Lanternacre.com to request help with earlier history.

1. Stop receiving and close the local viewer before changing the location.
2. Choose Choose save location and select a parent where the child name Lanternacre Weather History is available. The app creates that new child and keeps the earlier library in place. An existing child prompts you to choose a different parent.
3. Grant access through the folder picker. The app saves a bookmark for this Store-edition library.
4. When saved access needs attention, use Renew saved folder access and select the parent of that same Store-edition library. The app checks its saved identity before opening it. Follow the displayed choice request when permission or identity needs correction. Start receiving becomes available when storage is ready.

Folder replacement waits for old-library work to finish. If completion is unconfirmed, keep that library in place and record the message for support.

Fresh-library defaults are seven days and 512 MB. A previously created Store-edition library supplies its accepted settings. Keep up to … days accepts 1–90 days; Disk limit accepts 64–16,384 MB. The limit budgets logical library files, with a separate bounded 16 MiB work allowance. Read macOS storage displays for its own disk-space and allocated-size measures.

Done applies the displayed settings every time you select it. Applying settings, collection and periodic work can expire eligible product records and auxiliary files. Review retention choices before applying them. For backup planning, keep the existing app and full library intact and obtain release-specific guidance through Lanternacre.

Opening a library updates local settings, restart/status notices and derived views. Follow the clean-Quit steps below before copying or moving its files.

Find a product

Choose All products, Bulletins, Weather maps or Other files. Search names, codes or original text. Choose product types narrows the list; Every type restores all types. The list shows up to 800 matching records. Retained totals and visible matches describe different parts of the library.

Use the Latest per … series choice for a compact view. Maps use first-receipt ordering, while bulletins retain native-time ordering. Turn that choice off to browse more retained versions. Select a product to inspect its original and source details. Use Save a copy for other-file attachments you wish to open with another application.

Use location filters

Enter a US ZIP, city/state or state, then select Find location. Saved locations recalls recent queries. Area details shows the representative point, zone/county/office references, limitations and mapping time. Census ZIP-area geography provides reference boundaries; interpret the original alert’s actual areas and any warning polygon for the location you need.

Local zone/county matches appear first. Use Include office and regional context and Include products without a location match to adjust the view. A broad-area product may cover part of the searched area. All areas clears the current filter. Location requests use Census/NWS references and, for a ZIP or city fallback, Apple place lookup; read Privacy for those data flows.

To forget saved locations, stop receiving and wait for Stopped, close the viewer and wait for its stopped status, then choose Settings → Forget saved locations and profile. The control is disabled while receiving, viewing, changing folders or an earlier reset is busy. Forgetting saved locations… means the reset is working.

The reset stops animation, cancels pending lookups and waits for already-started library work. It removes the current library’s logical cached profile, then clears recent Store-edition queries and the current filter after acknowledged removal. An unconfirmed outcome can leave profile removal completed while recent queries remain. Record the exact message and seek support when the app reports incomplete reset. Other libraries, earlier preferences, weather originals and independent copies retain their separate lifetimes. Ordinary work completes under its existing retention choices before the reset proceeds. This control performs logical record deletion; physical storage and backup copies have their own lifecycle.

Read a bulletin aloud

1. Select a Bulletins item and wait for its original text.
2. Newly loaded text starts at its first passage. Use Back/Forward to choose another passage. Choose an installed English Voice and Speed, then press Play. The Mac prepares that passage with system speech facilities and plays the temporary local audio through its selected sound output.
3. Use Pause, Resume and Stop. Back/Forward move between passages. Stepping during playback continues playback; stepping from pause leaves the passage ready for Play.

The top Playback menu also offers playback and passage actions. Check elapsed time and listen through the selected output. Speed applies to newly prepared speech; changing the voice stops the clip. For audio preparation errors, inspect the app’s message, Mac output device/mute/volume and installed English voices. Stopping or replacing a clip requests temporary-file cleanup; a failed or interrupted cleanup can leave a temporary audio file.

View and animate original maps

Select a weather map. Fit, zoom and scrolling help inspect the original. Previous/Next step through retained versions. Animate history prepares originals and plays the sequence; use the animation control again to stop.

Frame hold ranges from 0.5 to 8 seconds, with a 3-second in-memory default. The last frame adds a 2.5-second pause. Set the hold again after reopening as needed. The app prepares up to 24 recent retained frames within a 64 MiB decoded-image cache. Follow any missing-frame/cache message and use manual stepping for the versions available.

Read the observation/forecast time, legend and coverage printed inside each original. First-receipt ordering also includes late backfill, and retained versions can have gaps or uneven intervals. Use image content for image geography and validity; regional discovery bounds help organize the collection.

Read in a browser on this Mac

Open local viewer opens the human reader at http://127.0.0.1:8787/. Use that root page for bulletins and original images. Local integrations provides JSON addresses for same-Mac software. The listener uses this Mac’s loopback interface, and the service remains available while the local viewer is open. Follow stale/disconnected status when refreshing displayed material.

Use Close local viewer to end the browser service and wait for its stopped status. Receiver and viewer controls remain independent. Record the local-viewer message if another local service occupies the port.

Share originals, save copies and follow source rights

Select an eligible bulletin or weather map, then choose Share beside Save a copy. After an eligible original loads and passes the app’s existing rights screen, Weather Relay prepares an unused local temporary copy before making Share available. A mouse press opens the standard macOS sharing picker; activating the control without a mouse pointer uses AppKit’s standard Share menu item.

You choose the sharing service and recipient in the macOS interface. Your action there selects your service and recipient and begins the share. Changing the selection or library, or using clean Quit, requests removal of unused ready copies. Share gives its fixed ready copy to the sharing session; cancellation or a service’s reported completion or failure requests cleanup, then Weather Relay prepares a fresh ready copy for the current selection. A pending system callback, interrupted exit or cleanup failure can leave a temporary file in macOS storage. The selected service and recipient manage their independent copies under their own settings and policies.

Save a copy writes the selected retained original when available; otherwise it writes the current bounded feed snapshot. Choose the destination in the save panel. Each export contains that original or snapshot. Keep the complete library and matching app for release-specific backup/recovery guidance. Exported files, shared copies and backups follow the lifetimes you choose for those independent files.

Preserve source attribution and check each product’s source and reuse terms before sharing. The local reader/integrations include products that pass the application’s rights screen; the rights screen withholds unresolved, foreign, restricted, malformed and test material from that shared view. Your local collection can hold products with different rights. Archive information identifies transport; the actual issuing source and product terms govern reuse. Read Application notices for preserved attribution and legal text.

Read the right clock

Source agencies establish product validity and alert lifecycle. Receiving, storage expiry and export each describe local workflow events. Use gaps and bounded history notices to assess collection coverage; use current official source channels for current warning instructions.

Local monitoring: alerts, warnings, dashboards, stations and health

Monitoring reads a bounded snapshot of products already retained in this library. It does not start another collector, silently geocode saved dashboards, or establish all-clear, product validity, or nationwide completeness. Use the original product and issuing agency’s current channels for warning decisions.

Configurable local alerts

Choose a saved resolved place and received product codes to create a rule. Rules start off. Enabling an alert or health notification requests macOS local-notification permission; denied or unavailable permission is shown and notifications are withheld. Local alerts run while the app is open and receiving appropriate products; they do not start collection, run while the app is closed, bypass macOS settings, or guarantee presentation, sound, or delivery. Backfill, startup history, test/unqualified products, old headings, and expired NEW warnings are withheld from automatic alerts. Read the original product rather than treating a received notification as a newly issued or currently active warning.

Received warning map and history

The event list and map organize received warning actions, native areas, source/receipt clocks, revision references, and supported received polygons. Missing input, a missing map entry, an elapsed end time, or retained-history pruning never means all-clear. An explicit cancellation or expiration describes only its reported scope; unresolved or unsupported information remains explicit. The optional Apple base map is chosen in Monitoring, uses Apple’s system map service for the viewed region, and does not request this Mac’s device location.

Saved dashboards

Save named dashboards with existing saved resolved places and product-code filters, then reopen them from the dashboard picker. Panels can show retained series and pins from the main reader. Dashboards reuse the existing intake and caches; they do not start another collector or hidden geocoding. Use Find location explicitly when you need a newer mapping.

Decoded retained station observations

The Stations view decodes supported retained METAR/SPECI reports locally and keeps the original reference available. Unsupported or missing groups remain raw or missing rather than being filled from unrelated lines. Observation dates can be labeled inferred from bulletin context or first receipt, and a new receipt does not renew an observation. Cards do not make a forecast, chart-trend, aviation-use, or spatial-transfer claim.

Receiver health and optional notifications

Health keeps current text/image requests in this receiving session, current-session backfill, and retained library history separate. A retained archive receipt or header cannot fill a current request result or source clock; starting a new receiving session resets live request/backfill telemetry. Request success does not establish source age, product validity, or completeness. Health notifications start off; they report only eligible local transitions after qualified current requests and are withheld when permission or state persistence fails. These controls do not start a receiver.

Quit, update and request recovery help

1. Close the viewer and stop receiving, speech and animation.
2. Choose the application’s Quit command. Closing the last window leaves the app running.
3. Wait for actual app/writer exit before copying or moving history. When Quit reports unconfirmed work, keep the files in place and record its message for support.

Use the release instructions at Lanternacre.com to plan an installation or update. For an edition installed through the Mac App Store, use the Store for installation and updates. Keep earlier review-edition history with its original app/folder while seeking assistance. This guide covers setup and everyday use; request release-specific full-library backup, recovery and earlier-history guidance through the publisher website.

Resolve a workflow message

Use Help → Privacy or Settings → About → Privacy for the bundled data-handling notice. For help, provide the displayed app version, Mac/macOS, action, time and exact message to support@lanternacre.com. Use Lanternacre.com for release-specific guidance.