Below is some general information regarding the weather forecasts that the Cirrus Forecast service creates.
Depending on which plan you subscribe to, the weather forecast gets updated at different times and frequencies. Below you will find a breakdown for each plan.
| Plan | Updates per day | Hours updated |
|---|---|---|
| Stratus | 5 | 12am, 6am, 12pm, 5pm, 9pm |
| Cumulus | 8 | 12am, 3am, 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm |
| Nimbus | 12 | 12am, 2am, 4am, 6am, 8am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm, 10pm |
| Cirrus | 24 | Every hour |
Weekend plans run from Friday at 12:00 PM through Monday at 11:00 AM (depending on your plan) giving three days of forecasts. We provide this range in order to accommodate different weekend hours for our customers.
Please see the above table under Daily for which hours during the weekend your specific plan will be updated. The table below shows when each plan will start and end for the weekend.
| Plan | First forecast for the weekend | Last forecast created for the weekend |
|---|---|---|
| Stratus | Friday at 12pm | Monday at 6am |
| Cumulus | Friday at 12pm | Monday at 9am |
| Nimbus | Friday at 12pm | Monday at 10am |
| Cirrus | Friday at 12pm | Monday at 11am |
| Period | Time |
|---|---|
| Morning | 6:00:00 AM – 11:59:59 AM |
| Afternoon | 12:00:00 PM – 4:59:59 PM |
| Evening | 5:00:00 PM – 8:59:59 PM |
| Night | 9:00:00 PM – 5:59:00 AM |
Forecasts for the following hour are created by default 15 minutes before that hour (0:45) so it will be available before the top of the hour.
When the forecast is generated can be overridden by setting the "Generation time" in the admin web portal. The range is 0:45 through 0:15 which equates to 15 minutes before the top of the hour through 15 minutes after the top of the hour.
The following examples assume the subscribed location is on the Cirrus plan receiving updates on an hourly basis.
{warning} There must be at least a six (6) minute window from the generation time to the time the file needs to be downloaded. For example, if the forecast will be broadcasted at 1:12 PM, the generation time needs to be set to a minimum of 0:06. A generation time of 0:07, 0:08, etc. would not give enough time for the forecast to be generated and downloaded by the Cirrus Forecast Downloader.
Weather alerts are available on the Cirrus plan. This is to ensure alerts are always up-to-date and expired alerts are not included.
Alerts in the United States are from the National Weather Service. If you are in another country, please contact us and we can check to see if alerts are available in your area.
A few general notes:
A climate adjustment allows you to adjust the words used in your weather forecast for the winter and summer months depending on if your climate is colder or warmer than average during those months. The climate adjustment is done by setting a temperature adjustment between -30 and +30 in increments of 10. An adjustment can be made for the winter and the summer independently.
{info} For climate adjustments in the Northern Hemisphere, winter is considered to be November through April and summer is considered to be May through October. In the Southern Hemisphere, winter is considered to be May through October and summer November through April.
The average temperatures we use are between 20-35°F in the winter and between 70-85°F in the summer. Extremes are considered below 0°F and above 100°F.
The table below is a loose guide to help you determine if you need to make a climate adjustment. Please note that temperatures are in Fahrenheit.
| Adjustment to make | Winter average | Summer average | Low extreme | High extreme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -30 | -10 to 5 | 40 to 55 | Below -30 | 70 and above |
| -20 | 0 to 15 | 50 to 65 | Below -20 | 80 and above |
| -10 | 10 to 25 | 60 to 75 | Below -10 | 90 and above |
| 0 (default) | 20 to 35 | 70 to 85 | Below 0 | 100 and above |
| +10 | 30 to 45 | 80 to 95 | Below 10 | 110 and above |
| +20 | 40 to 55 | 90 to 105 | Below 20 | 120 and above |
| +30 | 50 to 65 | 100 to 115 | Below 30 | 130 and above |
Selling sponsor spots for your weather forecasts is a great way to raise additional revenue.
The maximum length of a sponsor is 175 characters which is approximately 20-25 words.
{info} In order to keep the forecast within 30 seconds, as the sponsor gets longer, the weather forecast will get shorter. Meaning, less details are given or less weather periods are provided in order to accommodate the longer sponsor.
Here are some examples to get you started.
If you don't currently have a sponsor, you could use something like the following:
Other examples:
If you have issues with a website being pronounced or it is being said too fast, try spelling it out:
{info} If the tricks above don't work for you, please contact us through Support and we can help you with custom SSML syntax (see below).
Disclaimer: The websites above are examples only. We do not endorse or disapprove of any companies/websites used. Only one exception, our own of course, Media Grid LLC :)
SSML stands for Speech Synthesis Markup Language. You can find more information about it here.
If you are having issues with a voice pronouncing a word incorrectly whether it be within your station name, slogan or sponsor, we might be able to use some specific SSML syntax. Please contact us through Support and we can help you with the syntax. Just let us know the word or phrase you are having an issue with and which voice.
{warning} In order to support SSML, we had to make parenthesis reserved characters. This means that you cannot use
(or)in any text unless you have worked with us and we told you to. If you do, you will run into issues with your weather forecasts generating.