How Do I Set Up and Manage Weather Forecasts and Alerts in SoCast?

How Do I Set Up and Manage Weather Forecasts and Alerts in SoCast?

How Do I Set Up and Manage Weather Forecasts in SoCast?

In the world of radio, being a local information leader means providing your listeners with the most up-to-date weather information. Whether it’s helping them plan their morning commute or keeping them informed with timely updates during severe weather conditions, the SoCast Weather system allows you to automate high-quality forecasts on your website and mobile app. By integrating with major providers like the National Weather Service and Environment Canada, you can ensure your digital presence is as reliable as your on-air weather reports.

This guide will walk you through setting up your forecast sources, adding your local cities, and placing weather widgets on your pages.

Before you begin

  • Check your Permissions: Ensure your SoCast login has access to Weather Settings. If you don’t see it, contact your Station or Group Admin.
  • Company vs. Account: "Company" settings (choosing the provider) are usually handled by your head office. "Account" settings (choosing cities and generating weather pages) are handled by station-level staff.
  • Patience is Key: After saving your changes, it may take up to 10 minutes for the new weather data to appear on your live website.

Step 1: Accessing Weather Settings

  1. Log in to your SoCast Website Admin.
  2. In the left-hand navigation menu, select Website and then click on Weather Settings.
  3. You will see two tabs:
    • Account: Use this to manage your cities, weather-warning blog posts, and shortcuts.
    • Company: Use this to select your weather provider (e.g., National Weather Service) and default units (Fahrenheit/Celsius).

Step 2: Choosing your Weather Provider (Company Level)

Note: If your head office has already set this up, you can skip to Step 3.

  1. Click the Company tab.
  2. Under Provider, select the service that best fits your market:
    • SoCast Weather: Great for general global coverage.
    • National Weather Service (NWS): Best for U.S. stations (Locked to Imperial).
    • Environment Canada: Best for Canadian stations (Locked to Metric).
    • Weatherology / World Weather Online: Use these only if your station has a private contract and an API key.
  3. Choose your Default system of measurement (Imperial or Metric).
  4. Click Save.

Step 3: Adding your Cities (Account Level)

You can save up to 20 locations that your listeners care about.

  1. Click the Account tab.
  2. Under Weather Locations, click Add Location.
  3. Type the name of your city in the search bar.
  4. Once added, you can click and drag the locations to change their order. This order determines how they appear in the "Location Selector" on your website.

Step 4: Turning Weather Alerts into Blog Posts

SoCast can automatically create blog posts whenever a weather warning is issued for your saved locations.

  1. On the Account tab, find the Weather Updates section.
  2. Toggle Enable Weather Updates to On.
  3. Select a Custom Blog Category for these alerts only if you want to use a custom one. Otherwise, a default category called “Weather Updates” is automatically generated and used when you turn on Enable Weather Updates.
  4. Mobile App Integration: If you want these alerts to send a "Push Notification" to your app users, ensure your App Admin has linked a Notification Group to the default "Weather Updates" blog category, or a custom category you selected above.

Note: These alerts are issued by an official government meteorological authority (such as NOAA or Environment Canada), not by the SoCast system. These posts are for informational purposes. Always encourage listeners to follow official government emergency channels for safety.

Step 5: Adding Weather to your Website Pages

The fastest way to create a comprehensive weather destination is to use the default template, which includes all available weather widgets pre-configured for you.

  1. On the Account tab, navigate to the Weather Pages section.
  2. Look for the Add Weather Page option.
  3. Click the button to automatically generate a new page on your website using the default weather template.
  4. This page will be populated with the Current Conditions, Short-Term, and Long-Term Daily and Location Selector elements by default, which you can customize.

    If you want to place specific weather elements on existing pages (like your Home page) or build a unique layout from scratch using WPBakery, follow these steps:

    1. Go to Website > Pages and Edit the page where you want the weather to appear (e.g., your Home page).
    2. Add a new WPBakery element and search for the following Weather options:
      • Weather Current Conditions: Shows the "right now" temperature and sky conditions.
      • Weather Short-Term: Shows the forecast for the next few hours/periods.
      • Weather Long-Term Daily: Shows the extended 5-7 day outlook.
      • Weather Location Selector: Adds a dropdown menu so listeners can switch between the cities you added in Step 3.
    3. Configure the element: Click the "Edit" icon on the block to choose:
      • Which specific city to show.
      • The color and size of the weather icons.
      • Which details to display (Wind, Humidity, UV Index, etc.).
    4. Update the page to save your changes.

    Comparing Weather Providers

    Use the tables below to compare typical use cases and the specific weather details (wind speed, humidity, UV index, etc.) available for each provider.

    Provider Overview

    Provider Best For Default Units Key Features
    SoCast Weather General/Global Choice (Metric/Imperial) Included with SoCast; standard global coverage.
    National Weather Service U.S. Markets Imperial (Locked) Official U.S. government data; highly reliable local alerts.
    Environment Canada Canadian Markets Metric (Locked) Official Canadian data; supports French alerts.
    Weatherology Premium Contract Choice (Metric/Imperial) Supports Audio Alerts (requires API key).
    World Weather Online Custom Data Choice (Metric/Imperial) Advanced meteorological data (requires API key).

    Current Conditions Widget

    Forecast Detail SoCast Weather / WWO National Weather Service (U.S.) Environment Canada Weatherology
    Sky Condition
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
    DescriptionYesYesYesYes
    "Feels Like" TempYesSometimesYesSometimes
    PrecipitationYes (if over 0)NoNoYes (if over 0)
    WindYesYesYesYes
    PressureYesYesYesYes
    Dew Point
    No
    Yes
    Yes
    No
    HumidityYesYesYesYes
    Air QualityYesNoYesNo
    UV Index
    Yes (if over 0)
    No
    No
    No
    Sunrise/SunsetYesYesYesSometimes

    Short-Term Widget (Hourly)

    Forecast Detail SoCast Weather / WWO National Weather Service (U.S.) Environment Canada Weatherology
    DescriptionYesYesYesYes
    "Feels Like" TempYesNoNoNo
    PrecipitationYes (if over 0)Yes (if over 0)Yes (if over 0)Yes (if over 0)
    WindYesYesYesYes
    HumidityYesYesNoNo
    UV Index
    Yes (if over 0)
    No
    Yes (if over 0)
    No

    Long-Term Daily Widget

    Forecast Detail SoCast Weather / WWO National Weather Service (U.S.) Environment Canada Weatherology
    DescriptionYesYesYesYes
    "Feels Like" Temp
    Yes
    No
    No
    No
    PrecipitationYes (if over 0)Yes (if over 0)Yes (if over 0)Yes (if over 0)
    WindYesYesSometimesYes
    Humidity
    Yes
    No
    No
    No
    UV Index
    Yes (if over 0)
    No
    Yes (in description if applicable)
    No
    Forecast Display
    SoCast Weather / WWO
    National Weather Service (U.S.)
    Environment Canada
    Weatherology
    High/Low Temp
    Yes (displays high/low temperature value)
    Yes (displays high/low label)
    Yes (displays high/low label)
    Yes (displays high/low label)
    Period Data per Day
    Current Day 24 Hours
    Next 25 Hours
    Next 24 Hours
    Next 36 Hours
    Max. Number of Days/Periods
    7 Periods (days)
    7 Days (14 periods)
    Next 7 Days (13 periods)
    7 Days (13 periods)

    Troubleshooting Common Issues

    Issue Solution
    "Location Unknown" Message Go back to Step 3 and make sure you have added at least one city to your Account tab.
    No Data is Showing Ensure your Provider (Step 2) matches your country. (e.g., Don't use Environment Canada for a U.S. city). Wait 10 minutes for the cache to clear.
    Wrong Temperature Units Check your Company or Widget settings. Remember that NWS and Environment Canada are locked to their respective national units by default in the company settings. Meanwhile units can be overridden per widget for any provider.
    Missing Certain Data Not all providers send every piece of data. If a provider (like NWS in certain regions) doesn't send "Air Quality," that line will simply remain hidden.

    Need more help?

    If you have followed these steps and your weather is still not displaying correctly, please contact SoCast Support. Provide your station name and a link to the page where the weather is missing, and our team will be happy to investigate!


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