Weatheralert displays iconised data extracted from the METAR (and SPECI) reports from airports in your operational area.
Four parameters are displayed: wind speed, visibility, runway visual range and cloud ceiling.
For each parameter, three "alert" states have been defined, and the icon corresponding to each parameter is coloured appropriately ( green, amber or red) depending on the "alert" state of that parameter. For example, wind speed above 25 knots may be designated as alert state red, so when the wind speed is reported at 28 knots, the wind icon for that airport is coloured red.
A white colouring of any parameter icon denotes that no data has been received in the past two hours.(This is quite common for RVR, as this is usually only reported when visibility is less than 2000 metres).
NOTE: if the METAR report is for CAVOK, then in the Status Bar visibility will be shown as 10000 metres and ceiling as 5000 feet.
Weatheralert, when running and connected to the Internet, interrogates the WSI met database regularly to update the display.
If there is a change at any airport from one of the alert states (green, amber or red) to another alert state, for any one of the four parameters (wind speed, visibility, RVR, cloud ceiling), then the 3-letter IATA identifiers for those airports will be displayed in the Status Bar.
To assist in de-cluttering the map, the airports have been prioritised, so that airports with the highest priority are displayed in favour of airports with lower priority. Zooming in will reveal more airport icons. A solid white dot in the centre of an airport icon indicates that there are additional airports in the vicinity of the icon that are not currently displayed.

Airport Icons
The four sides of the airport icon each represent one parameter for the METAR (or SPECI) report, as follows:

Top quadrant:
Ceiling

Left hand quadrant:
Wind Speed A solid white dot in the centre of the icon indicates that there are additional airport icons not currently displayed due to de-clutter. Zooming in will reveal these additional airport icons.
Right hand quadrant:
Visibility

Bottom quadrant:
Runway Visual Range (RVR)

	Top quadrant: Ceiling
Left hand quadrant: Wind Speed	A solid white dot in the centre of the icon indicates that there are additional airport icons not currently displayed due to de-clutter. Zooming in will reveal these additional airport icons.	Right hand quadrant: Visibility
	Bottom quadrant: Runway Visual Range (RVR)

The colours green, amber and red represent the three "alert" stages. These are customised for each user.
The colour white means that no data has been received in the past two hours.

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Status
Passing the mouse arrow over an airport icon displays the values for the four iconised parameters in the Status Bar. These values are colour coded as per the part of the icon for the airport. E.g. If visibility is 5000m and this is above the green threshold setting then the value 5000m will be shown in green.
Also, the identifers for those airports whose alert state has changed since the last update will be displayed in the Status Bar.
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Zoom (+/- buttons)
To zoom in, mouse click on the + button on the status bar.
Or, press the + button on your keyboard.

To zoom out, mouse click on the - button on the status bar.
Or, press the - button on your keyboard.

Zooming in will usually reveal more airport icons, as the de-clutter function prevents the display of lower priority airport icons.
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Flashing Gust Factor
The section of the icon which displays the wind speed (right hand) can flash between the colour codes when the METAR is reporting gust factors. For example, Wind speed thresholds are 20 Knots Amber 30 Knots Red. METAR wind speed is 15 Knots gusting 25 Knots then the icon flashes Green/Amber, the METAR wind speed is 25 Knots gusting 35 Knots then the icon flashes Amber/Red. This flashing as another alert is intended to encourage users and drill down to the latest data. Also see View OPMET
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Reset
Clicking on the Reset button resets the screen to the full display.
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To move around the map
A left-hand mouse button click will centre the map on the position of the mouse cursor.
Use the cursor arrow keys on your keyboard to move up, down, to the right and to the left.
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To view OPMET (METAR and TAFs)
A mouse click using the right-hand mouse-button on an airport icon provides access to the latest complete METAR report, along with the latest short 9-hour TAF (FC report) and latest long 18-hour TAF (FT report)..
A mouse click using the right-hand mouse-button on the airport icon causes the OPMET window to pop up.
If the full OPMET cannot be seen, then use the supplied scroll bars to scroll down to see the complete report.
Another right-hand mouse button click on another airport icon automatically closes any OPMET window currently open and opens a new OPMET window containing the new report.
The OPMET window is just like any other Microsoft application Window, so it can be minimised, resized or closed.
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Optimising your Browser to view Weatheralert
Weatheralert requires MS Internet Explorer V4.0 or Netscape Navigator V4.0 with Java enabled (this is usually the default setting).
Weatheralert is best viewed at a screen resolution of 1024 x 768.
To maximise the viewing area:

If using Internet Explorer, select Full Screen from the View menu.

If using Netscape Navigator, select Show from the View menu, and deselect the Navigation, Location and Personal Toolbars so that they do not have a check by them, and are not displayed on the screen.

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