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Official Weather Warnings

When a national weather service issues a warning for the place you're looking at — heavy rain, thunderstorms, strong wind, a heatwave, frost — SmartMixin shows it at the top of the dashboard of your station or saved location. This article explains where the warnings come from, how to read them, and how they differ from your own alerts.

Where the Warnings Come From

SmartMixin doesn't write these warnings: it shows the ones published by official weather services, as they publish them.

  • Europe: the national weather services that publish through MeteoAlarm (for example AEMET in Spain or DWD in Germany)
  • France: Météo-France vigilance
  • United States: the National Weather Service (NWS)

Elsewhere, or when no service has a warning in force for the place, there's simply no warning card or banner.

Severity Levels

Every warning has a level, written as a word next to its colour:

LevelColourWhat it means
MinorGreyBe aware: usual activities aren't affected much
ModerateYellowBe prepared: the weather could disrupt your day
SevereOrangeBe very careful: dangerous weather is expected
ExtremeRedTake action: exceptionally dangerous weather

The Warning Card on Your Dashboard

In the mobile app, the card appears only while a warning is in force or coming up, and disappears on its own once the last one ends. The web app shows a banner instead — see "In the Web App" below.

  • The coloured band at the top shows the worst level coming, the hazard it's for and when: for example "Severe now · Extreme from tomorrow at 12
    AM". A level that starts later can outrank a milder one already in force, so you see the most serious one first
  • Up to two other hazards follow, each with its own level and timing. If there are more, a last line lists them, for example "+ 1 more: Thunderstorms"
  • The area line names the warning area your place falls in — marked "(this location)" for a saved location or "(your station)" for a station — and how many other areas the same warning covers
  • Tap the card, or All official warnings, to open the full list

The Warnings List

The Official weather warnings screen groups warnings by hazard, under Active now for the ones in force and Upcoming for the ones that haven't started yet. The most serious hazard comes first.

  1. Each hazard shows its level and timing on one line
  2. A timeline bar shows when each level applies, with a mark at each midnight and a line for "Now"
  3. Under the bar, each period is written out: its level, then its time range, for example "Tomorrow 12
    AM – 8
    PM"
  4. Tap (or click) a hazard's name to open its details

At the top, Last update tells you when the warnings were last updated. In the mobile app, pull the list down to check again right away.

If the last warning ends while the list is open, you'll see No official warnings. If the warnings can't be loaded — no connection, for example — you'll see Couldn’t load official warnings instead: tap Retry to try again. An outage is never shown as "no warnings".

Warning Details

Tapping or clicking a hazard opens the details of its warning:

  • The level and the hazard, then the agency's own headline and the time window
  • The timeline and its periods, when the warning has more than one period
  • Area covered: the warning area your place falls in, and how many other areas the warning covers
  • What to do: the agency's safety advice, when it gives any
  • Message from the agency: the full text, as the agency published it — it isn't translated, so it may be in the agency's own language
  • Who issued the warning, with a link to the agency's website when one is available

If the warning ends while you're reading it, the band changes to Ended with the time it ended. The screen stays open so you can finish reading.

All times are shown in the local time of the station or location, not your phone's.

In the Web App

On a station's page in the web app, warnings appear as a banner above the station's tabs, so you see them whichever of those tabs you're on. The banner names the worst level coming, its hazard and when. When several hazards apply, click Show hazards to list the others, and Hide hazards to fold them away again.

Click All official warnings to open the Official weather warnings page. It shows the same list as the mobile app — Active now and Upcoming, each hazard with its timeline and periods — together with the details of the selected warning: side by side on a wide screen, below the list on a narrower one. Click a hazard to show its details.

How Often the Warnings Refresh

SmartMixin checks for new warnings about once an hour while you're viewing a station or location, and the services themselves update their warnings on their own schedule. To check right away, pull down on the warnings list in the mobile app, or reload the page in the web app.

Official Warnings vs My Alerts

Official warnings and your own alerts are two different things:

Official weather warningsMy alerts
Who decidesA national weather serviceYou
Based onThe service's forecast for an areaYour station's own readings
NotificationsNo — shown in the appYes, a push notification
PremiumNoYes

To be notified when your own station crosses a threshold, see Setting Up Weather Alerts.

Troubleshooting

I don't see a warning card or banner

  • No warning may be in force for the place right now: the card (or the banner in the web app) only appears when there is one
  • The national service may not publish warnings that SmartMixin receives — see "Where the Warnings Come From" above
  • New warnings are picked up at the next check, about once an hour while you're viewing the station or location

A warning looks different on the agency's website

SmartMixin shows what the agency published at the last check. Agencies can update a warning at any time; check Last update in the list and refresh it: pull the list down in the mobile app, or reload the page in the web app.

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