Warnings drawn to your territory, not the whole region.
Your service territory has its own boundaries, and NWS polygons don't respect them. SiteWarn™ monitors your substations, work zones and right-of-way segments 24/7/365, warns line crews about lightning the NWS never will, and gives operations days of lead time on the wind and ice events that drive outage hours — so you stage crews before damage starts, not after.
Trusted for 14 years at more than 400 sites in all 50 states, with a 100% client renewal rate.
Customized for a single site — or for a command or operations center monitoring hundreds, even thousands, of sites from one screen.
Why utilities and cooperatives choose SiteWarn
A fully customized program: you set the thresholds, we watch the weather.
Lightning warnings for line crews and substations
The National Weather Service issues no warnings for cloud-to-ground lightning — the single biggest day-to-day hazard for aerial crews. We alert dispatch in time to pull crews off poles and out of substations before a strike, and clear them to go back up when it's safe.
Territory-specific alerts and warnings
Oversized NWS warnings don't fit your territory. We monitor your exact substations, work zones and right-of-way segments, so dispatch only stops the work that's actually at risk and the rest of the day's jobs keep moving.
Pre-position resources before storms hit
Large-scale wind and ice events are warned days out, not hours: watches up to 7 days ahead, warnings by day 5, with onset, peak and end timing by district. That's time to stage crews, activate mutual aid and pre-deploy bucket trucks — cutting restoration times and outage hours.
Alerts your way, unlimited users
Portal, app, email, text or push, phone (live or recorded) — or straight into your OMS or dispatch system by API — to dispatch, operations, safety and field crews. Interactive radar with every substation and work zone mapped, at no extra cost per user.
What a typical utility program looks like
Every program is built with your operations and safety leads. Here is a common starting point for a cooperative or municipal utility; larger territories repeat it by district.
- Lightning for crews: alert on cloud-to-ground strikes within 10 miles of any active work zone or substation, warning within 5 miles, all-clear 30 minutes after the last strike — to dispatch and crew leads.
- Large-scale high wind and ice: watch issued up to 7 days ahead for the districts and days affected, warning by 5 days out with expected onset, peak and end times, at your line-design thresholds — for example, 40 mph sustained or 55 mph gusts, or a quarter-inch of ice.
- Thunderstorm wind, tornado and hail: territory-specific warnings with expected timing for the substations, work zones and segments in a storm's path, 60 minutes or more ahead; null-warning notification when an NWS warning covers your territory but the storm won't reach it.
- Flooding and wildfire: flash-flood warnings for substations and access roads in low areas; wildfire location and spread updates for territory with vegetation-contact exposure.
- Daily planning outlook: a 7-day outlook for the territory each morning, so operations can schedule outdoor work, outages and switching around the weather.
- Delivery: portal and push alerts to dispatch and operations, live phone call to the on-duty supervisor for anything crew-critical, text and email to crew leads and safety — and an API feed into your outage management or dispatch system.
- Heat (WBGT or heat index): advisories and warnings at your activity or work-rest thresholds on either scale — WBGT by default for outdoor crews and athletics — per site.
- Wildfire: advisory when fire-weather conditions — wind, humidity, fuel dryness — are expected to threaten substations, lines or work zones; warning when an active fire's location and expected spread put them at risk, with timing and an all-clear, alongside the location and spread updates above.
- Hazard Matrix for the operations center: your territory grouped into the districts you define — each holding any number of substations, lines and work zones — with each district's status for every hazard on one grid, advisory, warning or clear, so dispatch reads the whole territory at a glance while crews get their own warnings.
Take the one-page overview with you
Everything on this page on a single sheet — lightning for line crews, territory-specific warnings, days of lead on wind and ice, and how to start a Free Live Trial. Made to forward to your operations manager or board.
"I am very impressed with how SiteWarn has allowed us to keep employees safe and avoid un-needed weather related shutdowns at the same time. The service has paid for itself time and again."
SABIC Plant Safety and Security, Ottawa, IL
"Proactive storm warnings from WeatherGuidance prevented equipment damage and enabled an efficient post-event restoration with minimal risk exposure. We truly appreciate your valuable service!"
Operations team, utility-scale solar plant operator, Texas
Questions utility operations and safety teams ask
Do you warn for lightning for line crews?
Yes. The National Weather Service issues no warnings for cloud-to-ground lightning. SiteWarn alerts dispatch to strikes within a custom radius of any active work zone or substation in time to bring crews down, and clears them to go back up when it is safe.
How far ahead do you warn on wind and ice events?
Large-scale events driven by storm systems are issued as watches up to 7 days ahead and converted to warnings by 5 days out, with onset, peak and end timing by district. Thunderstorm-driven wind and tornadoes are warned 60 minutes or more ahead of the affected area.
Can you monitor our whole service territory rather than individual addresses?
Yes. We load your territory boundary, substations, work zones and right-of-way segments and warn by district or by site as you prefer. Territory programs are priced as a group rate; single-site programs start at $99.95 a month; multi-site discounts apply — ten sites does not cost ten times one.
Are you familiar with cooperatives?
Yes. WeatherGuidance is an associate member of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and has served cooperative, municipal and investor-owned utilities for years.
What does the Free Live Trial involve?
We set up your real territory, substations and work zones, thresholds and delivery methods and monitor them exactly as we would for a paying client — no credit card and no obligation. Most sites are live the same day; overnight requests are set up the next morning.
See it live before the next outage event
Not a demo. We load your real territory and substations with your real thresholds and monitor them exactly as we would for a paying utility.
- 7-day outlooks and live lightning, wind, ice and severe weather warnings for your actual territory
- Portal, app and radar with every substation and work zone mapped, for dispatch and safety — API available for OMS integration
- Your thresholds, lead time and delivery methods
- No credit card, no contract, no obligation
Prefer to talk first? Call (512) 504-3151 or email sitewarn@weatherguidance.com during business hours, and we'll get right back to you.
SiteWarn also serves utility-scale solar and O&M, city and county government, data centers and more than a dozen other industries. See what the portal and app look like.