Weather in HomeWatchTools

HomeWatchTools uses the National Weather Service to show you the forecast for upcoming visits, record the weather at the moment each visit was completed, and warn you when severe weather is bearing down on one of your homes. Because it all comes from the National Weather Service, weather features currently cover properties in the United States.

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Weather on Your Visits

Wherever a visit shows up, other than one that's already completed, a small weather badge sits right next to it: on your Dashboard, in the Visits list, and on each row of a Schedule, for visits scheduled within the next week.

Today's visits show what the weather is doing right now, not a forecast, right up until the visit is completed. You'll see something like "Now 84°", a real temperature from the closest weather station to that home, found using the same rules as the reading recorded when a visit is completed (see below). It refreshes at most every 30 minutes while someone on your team is using HomeWatchTools, and it's never shown once it's more than 90 minutes old. Tap or click it to see exactly when and where it was measured, plus today's (or tonight's) forecast underneath.

If there's no current reading available yet, today's visit shows the forecast instead: something like "88° / 76°" during the day, or "Tonight 76°" once it's dark out.

Upcoming visits (tomorrow and beyond) show the forecast high and low plus the chance of rain, when there is one, like "88° / 76°, 40% rain."

Either way, tap or click the badge to see the full forecast: the complete wording ("Partly Cloudy" instead of just an icon), the high and low, the chance of rain, and a note that it's a National Weather Service forecast. Most smaller weather stations don't report sky conditions like "cloudy" or "sunny," just a temperature; when that's the case, HomeWatchTools shows today's forecast icon instead of leaving it blank, or a plain thermometer if there's no forecast stored for that day yet either.

Once a visit is completed, the badge disappears. From that point on, what matters is what the weather actually was, not what was predicted, and that's recorded on the report instead.

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The Weather Recorded on a Completed Visit

When a team member completes a visit, HomeWatchTools looks up the weather from the closest real weather station, an airport or a volunteer weather station, within 15 miles of the property, using its reading from the hour before the visit was completed. If nothing suitable is close enough, no weather is recorded for that visit. Nothing is ever guessed or filled in.

When a reading is found, it appears as a line along the lines of:

86°F, partly cloudy, humidity 72%, wind SE 9 mph, gusts 20 mph Nearest reporting station: Springfield Regional Airport, 6.2 mi from the property, reading at 2:14 PM. Source: National Weather Service.

This shows up on:

• The visit report PDF
• The client portal, where your homeowners view their reports
• Your team's own report page, where it always shows regardless of the setting below

Hiding it from clients: if you'd rather not show homeowners the weather at all, go to Settings > Communications and uncheck "Show weather on visit reports (PDF and client portal)." Your team still sees the reading on the report page either way; the setting only controls what the client sees.

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Weather Warnings for Your Homes

HomeWatchTools also watches for official National Weather Service warnings covering any of your homes: hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings, storm surge warning, extreme and high wind warnings, tornado warning, flood, flash flood, and coastal flood warnings, freeze warning, winter storm warning, ice storm warning, and blizzard warning.

On your Dashboard, a "Weather warning" chip appears at the top (for owners and admins) whenever one of your homes is covered, along with a badge on the affected visit itself, telling you how many homes are involved. Once the warning ends, both turn grey and read "Warning ended" instead, so it's obvious at a glance that it has passed. An ended warning stays listed for 48 hours before it drops off, so you have time to see the full picture.

The Weather Warnings page (owners and admins only) lists every warning covering your homes, current and recently ended, with the homes each one affects. From there you can message the affected homeowners. Choose who to notify, then choose what you're telling them:

• Storm heads-up: lets homeowners know the warning covers their home and that you're keeping an eye on it.
• Visit postponed: lets homeowners know their next scheduled visit is being pushed back for safety. Only homes with an upcoming visit are sent this one.

With Visit postponed, you can also check "Also move these visits to..." and pick one date. Each selected home's next visit moves to that date when the move is allowed: the home doesn't already have a visit booked that day, the day doesn't fall inside an owner's stay, no homeowner request is already waiting on that visit, and the date is after the visit's current one. A home that can't move still gets the email, it just says you'll confirm the new date later instead of naming one. Before you send, the box lists exactly which homes will get the email and which visits will move, and the Send button spells out both counts.

Either way, add an optional note if you like (it appears after the main message), and preview the exact email before anything goes out. Each homeowner gets their own email. Nothing is ever sent automatically, a message only goes out when you press Send. Both messages, "Weather warning: heads-up" and "Weather warning: visit postponed", can be edited any time in Settings > Client Emails. Moving a visit doesn't touch your invoices either, since billing is based on when a visit is actually completed, not its scheduled date.

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Getting Your Homes on the Map

To show forecasts and check for warnings, HomeWatchTools first needs to know where a property actually is. It looks up the address automatically, and if the address can't be placed, it falls back to the location of your team's past check-ins at that property.

If a home still can't be placed, you'll see a notice on the Properties list and a line about it on the Weather Warnings page, since forecasts and warnings can't be checked for a home that hasn't been placed on the map. To fix it, open the property, correct the street, city, and ZIP code, and save. Saving a changed address automatically triggers another attempt to place it.

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How Often We Check

Weather is only checked while someone on your account is actively using HomeWatchTools, never on a background schedule. In practice, that means forecasts refresh once they're more than 6 hours old, and this happens at most once every 15 minutes per account, triggered simply by you or your team using the app.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does this work outside the United States? Not yet. Weather comes from the National Weather Service, which covers United States properties only.

Why don't I see a forecast for one of my visits? A few reasons: the property hasn't been placed on the map yet, the visit is more than 7 days out, or nobody has used the app recently enough to trigger a refresh. Simply opening the app takes care of that.

What does "Now 84°" mean on today's visit? It's the current temperature from the closest real weather station to that home, not a forecast. It refreshes at most every 30 minutes while someone's using HomeWatchTools, and switches back to showing the forecast if no station has reported in the last 90 minutes.

Why does today's weather sometimes show a plain thermometer instead of a sky icon? Many smaller weather stations, especially volunteer ones, report a temperature but no sky conditions like "cloudy" or "sunny." When that happens, HomeWatchTools shows today's forecast icon instead so you still get a picture of the sky, or a plain thermometer if there's no forecast stored for that day yet either.

Why is there no weather on a completed visit's report? There was no weather station close enough, within 15 miles, with a usable reading in the hour before completion, or the visit was completed too long ago for a reading to still be recorded. It's uncommon, but it happens, especially in areas with fewer reporting stations.

Can I stop clients from seeing the weather on their reports? Yes. Go to Settings > Communications and uncheck "Show weather on visit reports." Your team still sees it on the report page.

Who can message homeowners about a warning? Owners and admins, from the Weather Warnings page. Nothing is sent until you review the preview and press Send.

If I postpone a visit, does that change what I bill the client? No. Moving a visit's date doesn't touch your invoices. Billing is based on when a visit is actually completed, not its scheduled date.

What happens if a visit can't be moved to the date I pick? The homeowner still gets the postponed message, it just says you'll confirm the new date later instead of naming one. A visit usually can't move because it already has a visit booked that day, the new date falls inside an owner's stay, a homeowner request is already waiting on that visit, or the date isn't after the visit's current one.

Is my property's location shared with anyone else? Your property's address and location are sent to the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Weather Service, only to place the property on the map and get its weather. See our Privacy Policy for details.