WxAlert2Mastodon

A project to post Oklahoma Weather Alerts to Mastodon.

This code is provided as-is. You are free to use it for your own projects. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at @blogoklahoma@social.tulsa.ok.us.

Log/Notes

• 06/23/2023 10:32 AM: Idea on Mastodon
• 06/23/2023 01:00 PM: Started research and first code to display weather alerts from NWS API
• 06/23/2023 03:30 PM: Posted on Github first part of Javascript code. (See Javascript version working at blogoklahoma.com/weather)
• 06/30/2023 09:00 AM: Started Node.js version of code.
• 07/05/2023 03:27 PM: Posted the latest update of the code. I rewrote it from the previous version. I converted some functions to use Promises. It is running but can be improved on. I want the Mastodon posting to happen within the processing loop and not asynchronously.
• 07/06/2023 8:11 AM: Moved code from blogoklahoma/Rabbit Hole/WxAlerts-Node to here.
• 07/06/2023 8:30 AM: Ran a full test overnight. Worked really well. And just by chance we had rapidly moving thunderstorms cross the state all night. Ha! Flooded my feed with #okwx updates.

Using

• Node.js
• National Weather Service API
• Mastodon API

Config

To configure, edit the config.json file. Any changes to this file will require a restart of the app.

• Wx.apiUse: set to "area" or "zone". Area will do state-wide alerts. Zone will do an individual county

• Wx.state: set to your state with the standard two-letter U.S. Postal abbreviation. (Example: OK, TX, KS, CA, ...)

• Wx.zone: set to your zone: Lookup here: Public Zone Maps. Set with your state's standard two-letter U.S. Postal abbreviation, "Z", and the zone number. (Example: Tulsa County, Oklahoma is "OKZ060")

• Wx.regions: (An array) set with your NWS service region or regions. This information is used for posting to Mastodon. Look up here: www.weather.gov/

  • Wx.regions[].nwsName is the service sender name. It's typically "NWS", City, and State. This is used to lookup, so it needs to match the sender name. (Examples: NWS Norman OK, NWS Shreveport LA)
  • Wx.regions[].nwsUrl is the sender's website. (Examples: https://www.weather.gov/oun/, https://www.weather.gov/shv/)
  • Wx.regions[].shortName is a shorter version of the sender's name. This is used when posting to Mastodon. (NWS Norman, NWS Shreveport or OUN, SHV)
  • Wx.regions[].note is a note space for you. I used it to denote coverage area, (Example: NWS Norman OK covers Western Oklahoma)

• Mastodon.url is your instance's address (Example: https://social.tulsa.ok.us, https://mastodon.social)

• Mastodon.token is your access token. You can get this from the Preferences/Development page. click the New Application button to get it. Friendly reminder: Don't share it.

• Mastodon.postSize is your post limit. I believe the default is 500 characters, but your instance may set it larger. The limit should be visible in the bottom corner of the post form.

• Mastodon.postLead is your post leader (front of post). I set mine to our state's weather hashtag (#okwx). Note: State + "WX" has been accepted as the standard weather hashtag.

• Mastodon.posting lets you turn off Mastodon posting. You can use this if you want to test all your Wx settings before sending to Mastodon.