By Gabe Ross | June 6, 2020 at 6:00 AM EDT – Updated June 6 at 4:23 PM
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – The WECT Weather app has many features you can use every day to keep you and your family ahead of changing weather conditions.
From lightning and severe weather alerts and current conditions to tropical tracks and forecast videos, you have all the tools you need to stay in the know when inclement weather strikes.
The interface can be customized and works best when you fine-tune the settings for your needs. This article will walk you through the most frequent questions we get when it comes to setting up the app, but first, here’s what you’ll see when you open the app.
On the home screen, you will be greeted by a list of current conditions, Including, temperature, sky conditions and a “feels like” temperature. You may also notice a quick video at the top of the screen that highlights important weather information.
The hot keys along the bottom of the screen are your stepping stones to jump between the hourly or daily forecasts or to the interactive radar.
As you swipe to the bottom of the home screen, you will be pointed to different links, including the latest forecast blog, the See it, Snap it, Send it portal of wect.com, and the all-digital hurricane survival guide, featuring blogs, forecasts, hacks and more.
How do I get alerts for my location?
– Tap on the “Menu” button in the top right corner of the screen.
– Select “follow me” to allow the app to follow you via your smart device’s GPS.
You can also create a marked location using your zip code, allowing you to watch over a specific location anywhere in the continental United States.
How do I track the path of hurricanes and tropical storms?
In addition to providing you with “past” and “future” products, the interactive radar will show you the 5-day official forecast from the National Hurricane Center along with any watches and warnings pertaining to those storms. The app allows you to store up to 4 favorite overlays from a list of over a dozen.
Here’s how to turn them on:
– On the radar, Select the menu button below the 4 favorites
– Tap “tropical tracks” to toggle the forecast cone on and off.
NOTE: Only tropical storms recognized by the National Hurricane Center will show up in the app. Past storms and other areas of interest will not appear.
To monitor the latest tropical watches and warnings:
You will also find tornado, severe, and flooding alerts here. As you know, these happen concurrently with tropical storms. Depending on the amount of activity taking place, you may want to prioritize which layers you keep on, in order to make the radar easier to read.
How do I determine which alerts I get?
The WECT Weather App makes it easy to turn on alerts for the products you want, and to turn off the ones you don’t.
On the home screen, Tap on the “Menu” button in the top right corner of the screen.
You will find the settings option where you can customize the type of push alerts that are sent to your phone, and the sounds that are played during severe weather. Touch the alerts to toggle on and off elements.
As always, we want to provide you with a way to stay consistently up to date with the latest weather information for you and your family and we hope that you enjoy the First Alert Weather app, and provide us with suggestions and tips to make the app even better for you!
If you do not have the app yet, you can download it for Android, iPhone and iPad by clicking the links.
Copyright 2020 WECT. All rights reserved.
