Description: What triggers a weather alert, the two types, and why a second alert doesn't arrive when it rains again the same day.
Overview
ComplianceGo watches the weather at each of your sites and raises an alert when a site's rainfall threshold is met. An alert tells you a site needs looking at.
The behavior that surprises people is the quiet period afterwards. Once an alert of a given type has fired, ComplianceGo won't send another of that type for 24 hours — even if the threshold is met again. This article explains why, and how to tell that from something being broken.
The Two Types of Alert
Type | What triggers it |
Precipitation alert | Rain has actually fallen on the site and reached its threshold. |
Forecast alert | Rain probability reaching the threshold is forecast for the site. |
They're tracked separately. A forecast alert and a precipitation alert for the same storm are two different alerts, and each has its own quiet period.
📝 The product uses two names for the same thing. You'll see Weather Alerts on the dashboard and on a site's status, but Weather Events where inspections are set up, and Weather Pre-Event (Forecast) / Weather Post-Event on the notification list. They all refer to this feature.
What Sets the Threshold
Each site has its own rainfall threshold, set where its weather-triggered inspections are configured — for example Post-Weather - Threshold: 0.50 inches.
The threshold is per site, so two sites in the same storm can behave differently. See Setting Up a Weather-Triggered Inspection.
The 24-Hour Quiet Period
After an alert of one type fires, no further alert of that type is sent for 24 hours.
The quiet period is what keeps one weather system from producing a stream of alerts for the same site — a single storm can cross the threshold repeatedly over an afternoon.
Two things follow from it:
It's per type. A precipitation alert doesn't silence a forecast alert, or the other way round.
It's per site. A quiet period on one site says nothing about another.
So "it rained hard again at 4pm and nobody was told" is expected behavior if an alert already went out that morning.
The Dashboard Count Works Differently
The Weather Alerts widget on your dashboard counts sites with an alert raised in the last 48 hours.
Three things to know:
It counts both types together. Precipitation and forecast alerts aren't broken out.
It's measured from when the alert was sent, not from when it rained.
Completing an inspection does not clear it. The count is driven by alerts sent. A site stays in that widget for the full 48 hours.
If You Inspect During the Quiet Period
There's one more rule, and it's the subtlest part of the feature.
If you complete a weather-alert inspection while that type's 24-hour quiet period is still running, the quiet period restarts from the inspection's date — if you set this feature up on your form. It is not enabled by default; it is a form decision.
The reasoning: you've just looked at the site, so there's no value in alerting you about the same conditions again.
⚠️ This means the total quiet stretch can approach 48 hours. Roughly 24 hours from the alert, then a fresh 24 hours from the inspection. If you're waiting on a second alert for a site you've just inspected, expect to wait longer than a day — and don't read the silence as a fault.
Note that inspection dates can be backdated, and the restart runs from the inspection date — so backdating an inspection moves the quiet period with it.
The 48-hour dashboard window is not affected. It stays anchored to the original alert. The two windows genuinely are independent, which is why a site can be out of its quiet period but still showing on the dashboard, or the reverse.
What Happens Next
The threshold is met at a site, and an alert is sent to the site's notification recipients configured for that alert type.
The site's quiet period for that type starts.
The site appears under Weather Alerts on the dashboard for 48 hours.
Any weather-triggered inspection for the site becomes available to start.
Completing that inspection restarts the quiet period if it was still running. It does not change the dashboard count.
FAQ
Q: It rained enough but no alert arrived.
A: An alert of that type already fired within the last 24 hours, and the quiet period suppressed the second one. One alert per type per 24 hours is expected behavior, not a fault.
Q: A site has never produced an alert at all.
A: Either nobody is subscribed to that alert type, or the site has no threshold set. Check Notification Recipients on the site for Weather Post-Event and Weather Pre-Event (Forecast), and check the site's threshold.
Q: A site stays under Weather Alerts after I inspected it.
A: Expected. The dashboard counts alerts sent over 48 hours, not outstanding work, so it clears when the 48 hours elapse rather than when you finish the inspection.
Q: A forecast alert arrived but no rain came.
A: Forecast alerts fire on the forecast, not the outcome. The precipitation alert only fires if rain actually reaches the threshold.
Q: Two sites in the same storm behaved differently.
A: Thresholds are per site. Compare the two sites' thresholds where their weather-triggered inspections are configured. The weather data is site specific — two sites, even ones close together, can differ enough in forecast or precipitation that one fires and the other doesn't.
Q: An alert I expected is more than a day late.
A: You probably completed an inspection during the quiet period, which restarts it from the inspection date. The combined stretch can be close to 48 hours.
Q: One person got the alert and another didn't.
A: Alert recipients are set per site and per alert type. Open Notification Recipients on the site and check both weather switches for each person.
Related articles
Setting Up a Weather-Triggered Inspection
Setting Up Notification Recipients for a Site
Understanding Inspection Statuses