Solano weather alerts: notified at the right moment, without needless noise

1. The two types of alert

Solano offers two very different alert logics, depending on what you're trying to watch for.

✅ Ideal conditions

The alert triggers when the forecast announces a favourable window — wind in the right range, acceptable waves, no rain. You define your criteria, Solano warns you as soon as they are met. Ideal for planning an outing in advance.

⚠️ Danger thresholds

The alert triggers when the forecast announces a threshold exceedance — gusts too strong, waves too high, visibility too low. Useful for keeping an eye on an anchorage, a planned event, or simply staying informed about risky situations on a spot.

Both types use the same monitoring engine: Solano checks the forecasts every 30 minutes and sends you a notification as soon as a condition is met.

2. Creating an alert step by step

Alerts are accessed from the Alerts panel in the navigation bar. An account is required.

1

Choose a place

Select a saved favourite place (or create one from the map). Each alert is attached to a precise GPS point.

2

Name the alert

Give it a meaningful name — "Riou outing", "Porquerolles anchorage", "Strong wind, calanques". This name will appear in the email and the push notification.

3

Choose the type: conditions or danger

Ideal conditions to look for a favourable window, Danger to watch a threshold not to be exceeded.

4

Define the criteria

For "Conditions": wind range, gusts, max waves, max rain, days of the week. For "Danger": max thresholds not to be exceeded, with an "any variable" or "all variables simultaneously" mode.

5

Choose the models to monitor

By default, all models available for your area are enabled. You can restrict to ARPEGE + ECMWF only, for example.

6

Set the notice horizon

In the "Follow-up notifications" section, choose how many days ahead you want to be alerted: J+2, J+3, J+4, J+5 or J+7 (default). Limiting to J+3 or J+4 reduces false positives — a 7-day forecast is less reliable than a 3-day one.

Alerts panel — alert list and Ideal-conditions form

Danger alert form — gust thresholds and detection mode

Alerts panel: the list of active alerts (left) and the threshold configuration for a Danger alert (right).

3. First signal or consensus?

The trigger mode determines how many models must confirm the condition before you receive a notification.

Mode	Trigger	Recommended use
First signal	As soon as a single model detects the condition	Rare ideal conditions, active monitoring — you want to be alerted early even if uncertain
Consensus	Only when all active models agree	High-stakes situations — you prefer fewer but more reliable notifications

      Consensus mode naturally filters false positives. If ECMWF says "ideal conditions" but ARPEGE sees 25 knots, you are not notified — the models don't agree. You get a notification only when the situation is robust according to every monitored model.
    

4. The events: detection, confirmation, invalidation

An alert is not just an email at trigger time. Solano tracks the evolution of the condition over time and can send you several types of notification.

🔍 Detection — always sent. The condition has just been met for the first time.

✅ Confirmation — optional. A later run confirms the condition: the window is still there, and a new run validates it again. Useful for reinforcing confidence.

🔄 Invalidation — optional. The condition that was met no longer is: the window has disappeared between two runs. Useful for knowing that the forecast has changed and the outing is no longer feasible.

Turn on Confirmation and Invalidation if you want full tracking. Turn them off if you prefer a single signal and no noise afterwards.

Built-in anti-spam: Solano sends at most 1 notification per run cycle — even if you've turned on every option. If one run confirms AND another invalidates within the same hour, you get a single summary email. Notifications are anchored on the real model publication timestamps, not on artificial cycles.

5. Email and push notifications

✉️ Email

Every alert automatically sends an email to your account address. The email contains:

The alert name and the place concerned
The detected window (date, start and end time)
The forecast values for the variables concerned
A "See the weather" button — a direct link to the Solano map positioned on the right point and date

📲 Push notifications

In addition, you can turn on push notifications on your device — they cover all your alerts (weather and bulletins) with no extra per-alert configuration.

You turn them on from the Bulletins panel → "Enable notifications" button. A single activation per device is enough.

Solano push notification received on an iPhone lock screen

A Solano push notification received on an iPhone — a Météo-France marine bulletin alert.

iOS: push notifications require Solano to be installed as a PWA (Add to Home Screen from Safari). Once installed, notifications work like any native app.

6. Tips for avoiding noise

Use Consensus mode if you're getting too many notifications — it filters isolated signals and only alerts you when several models agree.
Restrict the days of the week. If you only go out at weekends, activate the alert for Friday, Saturday and Sunday only.
Limit the notice horizon. The J+2 to J+7 selector in "Follow-up notifications" controls how far the scheduler looks. A J+7 alert will trigger long before it's reliable — J+3 or J+4 is often the right compromise.
Turn off Confirmation if you don't need it. Detection alone is enough in most cases — Confirmation only adds value if you want to track how an already-detected window evolves.
Create separate alerts per activity. A "Light-wind sailing" alert (wind 8–18 knots) and a "Diving" alert (wind <12 knots, waves <0.5 m) are more useful than a single generic alert.