[Release] NOAA Weather Alerts

⚙️ Custom Apps and Drivers
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Current release April 3, 2021

NOAA Weather Alerts provides weather alert notifications for USA based users through TTS using any or all Music devices, Echo Speaks devices, Google/Speech devices, PushOver Notifications devices, Hubitat app, and Dashboard tiles. NOAA provides granular customization to enable users to watch for specific events, severity, urgency while also using global variables to customize alert notification messages.

This is a re-release of original by Aaron Ward, with changes/fixes.

Application:

  • Redesigned UI which is more intuitive
  • Re-write from the ground up with more optimized code
  • Alert message anomalies removed (thanks to @dman2306 for guidance on regex)
  • Additional restrictions options. Ability to ignore restrictions for certain severity types and/or specific weather types (tornado warnings, tornado watch, etc)
  • ALL active alerts based on your weather settings are available for the dashboard tile

Dashboard Tile:

  • New display look/feel for alerts
  • Scrolling of all active alerts on the dashboard
  • Reduced overhead on Hubitat

NOAA Weather Alerts is available through Hubitat Package Manager or out on [GitHub ]
(Hubitat-4/NOAA at master · imnotbob/Hubitat-4 · GitHub).

It can be installed via HPM or manually with two source files from the repo (one app, one driver).

  • after install of source files: HE console -> apps -> +add user app
    • and select "NOAA Weather Alerts"
    • the app should display now under HE console -> apps and you can customize settings.

Restrictions Example:

  • All weather severity options selected (minor, moderate, severe, extreme)
  • Restrict for all modes
  • Ignore restrictions if alert is an Extreme alert (TTS Announcements throughout the home)
  • Ignore restrictions if Tornado Watch or Tornado Warning is issued (TTS Announcements throughout the home)
  • All other alerts send through PushOver

For those who would like to customize your NOAA Weather Alerts, below is a description of what each option does. Please keep in mind having ALL options selected will result in false or even NULL responses from the api. ONLY customize for what you are truly looking for. Example: If I am only concerned with tornado watches/warnings then only select the Watch a Specific Weather Alert to those two settings. Natively the app looks at all possible weather codes for you already.

Alert Message - allows you to customize the alert that is announced. You can use {variables} listed in the Customization Instructions to create your own custom message.

Restrictions - you can either restrict by mode or by switch

Weather Severity - You have choices of Moderate, Severe and Extreme. The more restrictive the severity to fewer announcements.

Alerts Urgency - Immediate is just alerts that are for immediate notifications. Expected is forecasted alerts.

Poll Frequency - change how often NOAA pulls for weather alerts

Repeat alerts - repeat a given alert in a certain # of minutes from original announcement

Custom Coordinates - allows for custom latitude/longitude to acquire weather alerts from another location within the USA

Weather Severity - Allows to choose what severity to watch for: Moderate, Severe and Extreme

Watch a Specific Weather Alert - allows for reduction of alerts to be monitored to just those alerts you are wanting to be announced

Alert Certainty - allows to specify for Possible, Likely and Observed

Alert Urgency - allows to specify Immediate, Expected and Future

Run a test Alert - test NOAA and your configuration

Enable Debug Logging - if you are having issues and/or need support enable debug logging. Debug logging will automatically shutoff after 15 minutes to reduce the amount of logs being produced by NOAA. This can be configured to always be on or you can set another timeout preference

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The original thread for this code is [DEPRECATED] NOAA Weather Alerts

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Trying to locate your Github version in package manager and it's not listed. It seems to point back to Aaron's repository.

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Because the original author has not taken down his HPM offer (or labeled in DEPRECATED like he did for the forum topic - only he can do this, or the HPM managers), there are two listings in HPM: (you want Latest)

Screen Shot 2020-09-15 at 10.45.53 AM
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I have had your service up and running for 24 hours now and no issues. I love the test alert message about the Springfield Nuclear Reactor.

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Is there a way to send the alert via TTS to a different device depending on mode? For instance, I'd like to send the alert to my Kitchen Sonos during one of my daytime modes (e.g. morning, afternoon, evening) and to my master bedroom Sonos during the night mode.

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You can create another instance of the app. I did this previous to the current version with one named "Day", and one named "Night".

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Makes perfect sense. Thanks!

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Feature request:

Have the ability to reset current application state on a daily basis at time set by the user.

If I use repeat, that starts when the alert first comes in. What if the alert carries over to the next day and repeat is setup to work for the day? Unless you have a suggestion I should do differently?

I do have a restrictions setup for night (10pm-4:30am) except for extreme alerts.

Thank you.

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It should carry over. You want set the repeat count long enough that the count is not reached.

For example, you could set the repeat count to 10000 and repeat minutes to 15, so it would effectively keep repeating until the alert ends.

the logging for the app should tell you what is going on (until the logging auto stops)

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Awesome. Thank you.

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I just installed the app and ran the test. The audio announcement works correctly.

I saw references to a dashboard tile but but I'm not clear on how to set it up. I selected "NOAA Tile" from Devices but I'm not sure what template to use or what I should see from a test.

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I changed the repeat to 1000 times every 120 minutes. The Wind advisory alert came in once and that was it. If night is set to restrict, will that affect the repeat?

I will have to turn on the logs next time an alert comes in and report back.

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I would expect it will honor restrictions but if the restriction ends it will resume (assuming the event did not end)

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I'm looking for something possibly much more streamlined, that simply flips a virtual switch for certain warnings, another virtual switch for certain watches.

My end goal is to have a simple trigger and test for these events that I can use to illuminate the LED strips on my Inovelli Dimmers.

The weather apps I've seen have a lot of complexity beyond that--yet, they don't seem to offer a good way to do what I need.

Any suggestions?

Also, I was looking at "alerts. weather.gov", specifically their CAP protocol. I noticed this app users "api.weather.gov" and some seemingly different data feeds.

Any idea why this was chosen vs. the CAP information?

Trying to decide what to look into it I ended up going my own way on this.

Thanks!

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Does this help?

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Thanks. I've not gotten into IFTTT things-I'm looking more for a direct app (minimize the complexity).

Kinda looking to make use of as an excuse to learn groovy. Lol

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@nh.schottfam Couple things. During our MN Blizzard and Wind Chill warnings I could not get the repeat to work. I had it set for 1000 repeats @ every 120 minutes (I did not have logging on). After the warnings cleared, the alert switch did not turn off. We might have another winter storm coming this Wednesday. I will turn on logging on Tuesday to provide you more detail next time. Sorry.

Is anybody else experiencing this?

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I don’t have repeat alerts turned on, since it used to go on indefinitely and I haven’t tried enabling it again. I did notice that my weather alert switch did turn back off though.

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I pushed an update, let me know if it helps