SkyMonitor v1.1.7.5

SkyMonitor Privacy Policy (September 2026)

Who runs SkyMonitor?

SkyMonitor is run by chicagoeas on GitHub. You can visit me here: https://github.com/chicagoeas. SkyMonitor is a hobby weather website I have been working on for a while now.

What information does SkyMonitor use?

As you have already noticed from using the site, SkyMonitor uses your current location ONLY if you provide us access to it (you can still use SkyMonitor perfectly fine even if you deny location permissions), and we use your current location to provide you with the most accurate, precise information for your exact location. This is especially important on SkyMonitor, as we use the Weather Underground PWS network, which has many PWS (Personal Weather Stations) around the world. You can check out the official web page for WU’s PWS network here: https://www.wunderground.com/pws/overview. WU has a massive network of PWS’s, and there is most likely one in your city, if not even down the street. This is one of the major benefits of using SkyMonitor, as every time you check the current conditions, you are seeing real observations from physical weather stations around the globe, not just model estimates or far-away airport observations. (Though it should be noted that the current weather, for example, whether it’s sunny, cloudy, or rainy, does use either your nearest airport or a model estimate, as WU PWS’s do not provide that kind of information.)

What other features on the site use your location?

The other two features on SkyMonitor that use your location data are push notifications and user reporting. These are both optional features, as is location access in general, but it’s important for you to know as the user what kind of your data is being sent to us, especially on the internet nowadays. When you enable push notifications (which can ONLY be done if you have added the website to your home screen on your phone; this can NOT be done through the web browser), every time you open SkyMonitor, we ping your location to check if there are any notifications that need to be sent to you. SkyMonitor is designed to use your location when the site is open. It does not intentionally request continuous background location updates. When you submit a user report, your exact location is not published as the report location. SkyMonitor adjusts the report marker before submission. SkyMonitor will automatically change the report location to anywhere within around 500 feet (or 150 meters) of your location. There is also a separate feature called “Privacy Mode” that you can enable, which will instead send reports from the center of your nearest named neighborhood or community area when one is available, otherwise the center of the containing city or town, for extra privacy. It should also be noted that you can clearly see where your report pin is placed on the map, and you can move it to your liking. You will then be prompted to choose a category for the user report, and you can optionally add any extra information about the report you are making in the text box provided.

What does SkyMonitor store on your browser?

SkyMonitor stores your settings, selected locations, notification preferences, and cached weather information on your browser. The reason we store this is so that every time you visit SkyMonitor from the same device, you won’t have to change your settings to how you like them every time. We also cache weather information, as SkyMonitor can actually be used completely offline, provided you have added it to your home screen on your phone. No other data is ever stored on your browser by SkyMonitor.

What external services does SkyMonitor use?

SkyMonitor uses Cloudflare services for some weather requests, hosting/backend functionality, and bot protection. Specifically, you might see a Cloudflare verification box if you try to access the Live User Reports tab for the first time. This is to ensure that no bots are able to access the live reporting section of the website, as they could cause harm by spamming reports. You can see Cloudflare’s privacy policy here: https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/. We also use OpenStreetMap for the map information you see on the live reporting map, which you can visit here: https://www.openstreetmap.org/

What choices do you have as a user?

In SkyMonitor, you have a lot of choices you can make as a user. If you don’t want to share your location with us, you can always deny access when the location request shows up. You do not have to use notifications or the live reporting section, and there are also more customization settings available in the settings window as well.

Contact

You can email me at: [email protected], or if you have an issue report to make, you can visit the following link: https://github.com/chicagoeas/sky-monitor/issues/new?template=bug_report.yml

Thank you so much for using SkyMonitor. I really hope you enjoy using it, and I am always open to feedback or suggestions if you have any.

Last updated: September 4th, 2026

About SkyMonitor custom alerts

What are SkyMonitor custom alerts?

SkyMonitor custom alerts are NWS-style alerts in the following categories: Severe Thunderstorm Warning, Tornado Warning, Flash Flood Warning, Special Weather Statement, and Mesoscale Discussion, issued by trusted SkyMonitor users. Once issued, you can view them directly in the “LIVE REPORTING MAP” section of SkyMonitor as long as you have them enabled.

Can I trust SkyMonitor custom alerts?

You should NEVER completely trust a SkyMonitor custom alert. They are not issued by meteorologists or experts. However, they are useful for tracking specific storms and what they are capable of producing, even if there is too low a probability for the NWS to rely on. For example, a storm might have a probable chance of producing a tornado; however, the NWS thinks that chance is too low or even misses the chance entirely, which can happen, although rarely, and therefore a SkyMonitor custom alert could let you know of the possible danger. There are also situations where SkyMonitor custom alerts can come a few minutes or even multiple minutes BEFORE the NWS issues one; for example, a SkyMonitor custom Severe Thunderstorm Warning could come slightly before the NWS’s actual Severe Thunderstorm Warning.

Is there a quality-checking system behind the issuance of SkyMonitor custom alerts?

If any of the alerts issued by our trusted users are deemed inaccurate or even misleading, that person may lose their privilege to issue custom alerts. You can report specific custom alerts by clicking the 📣 button at the top right of the custom alert box. You will be forwarded to a Google Form where the Alert ID you are reporting will be automatically filled in, and from there you can explain why you are reporting the alert, for example, if it was inaccurate or misleading, and if we find that to be true, we will take action to remove the alert and possibly even take action against the person who issued the alert, though that would be rare.