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Terms of Service

Last updated: 8/2/2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of metroeastweather.com and any related services (collectively, the "Site"), owned and operated by Metro East Weather / Lawrence Digital Media ("we", "us"). By accessing or using the Site you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Site.

1. Not an official emergency warning system

Metro East Weather is an independent, non-governmental information service. The radar imagery, forecasts, alerts, storm-mode indicators, blog posts, and any related content on this Site are provided for general informational purposes only and are NOT an official emergency warning system. Official watches, warnings, and advisories are issued exclusively by the U.S. National Weather Service. Do not rely on this Site as your sole or primary source of severe-weather information. You should always maintain multiple independent alerting methods, including NWS.gov, NOAA Weather Radio, local broadcast media, and Wireless Emergency Alerts on your mobile device.

AI-generated content. Portions of the Site — including the automated Hourly Forecast Discussion, SPC outlook write-ups, certain other blog posts, and spoken (text-to-speech) audio versions of forecasts — are generated in whole or in part by artificial-intelligence language and speech models. AI output can be inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date. You must not rely on AI-generated content for safety-critical decisions. Official watches and warnings from the National Weather Service always take precedence over any AI-generated commentary on this Site.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Site, and at least 18 (or the age of majority where you reside) to make a donation.

3. Accounts and account security

  • You are responsible for providing accurate account information and for keeping your login credentials confidential.
  • You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account.
  • Notify us immediately at the Contact page if you suspect unauthorized use of your account.
  • We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, abuse the service, or attempt to disrupt other users.

4. Donations

Donations to Metro East Weather are entirely voluntary and are used to help offset the costs associated with operating the website, maintaining weather services, purchasing equipment, and providing weather information to the community. Donations are processed by Stripe, Inc.

Metro East Weather is not currently a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization. As a result, donations are generally not tax-deductible as charitable contributions.

Making a donation does not grant any ownership interest, voting rights, decision-making authority, guaranteed service availability, priority support, or special access unless explicitly stated otherwise.

All donations are considered final and non-refundable except where required by applicable law.

5. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

  • Interfere with, disrupt, overload, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site or its infrastructure.
  • Scrape, mirror, or bulk-download content beyond ordinary browsing.
  • Circumvent, disable, or interfere with security features of the Site.
  • Republish or resell original Site content without written permission.
  • Use the Site to transmit unlawful, harassing, or infringing content, including through push notifications.

6. Content and intellectual property

Original blog posts, photography, videos, graphics, code, and commentary on the Site are the property of Metro East Weather or their respective contributors and are protected by U.S. and international copyright law. Public-domain data from NOAA/NWS remains in the public domain. You may not republish original content without prior written permission.

AI-generated material. Some blog posts, forecast discussions, and spoken audio on the Site are produced with the assistance of AI language and speech models. We curate and publish this material as part of the Site, but it is provided for informational purposes only and may contain errors.

7. User submissions

When you send a message through the Contact page, respond to a reply thread, or otherwise submit content to us ("User Submissions"), you represent that the content is lawful, accurate to the best of your knowledge, and does not infringe anyone else's rights. You grant Metro East Weather a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, display, and use your User Submission for the purpose of operating the Site, responding to you, and maintaining our records.

Tokenized message links. Each contact-form conversation is accessible via a unique tokenized URL that we email to you so you can view and reply without creating an account. Anyone with that link can view the thread — treat it like a password, do not share it publicly, and let us know if you believe it has been exposed so we can revoke it. Do not submit sensitive information (financial account numbers, government IDs, medical information, etc.) through the Contact form.

8. Third-party services

The Site relies on third-party services, including:

  • Stripe, Inc. — payment processing for voluntary donations.
  • Supabase — authentication, database, realtime updates, and delivery of transactional emails.
  • Cloudflare, Inc. — hosting, edge delivery, and DDoS protection.
  • OpenStreetMap — map tiles for interactive maps embedded on the Site.
  • BigDataCloud and Open-Meteo — reverse geocoding and supplemental forecast data.
  • Lovable AI Gateway — AI language-model and text-to-speech providers used to generate certain blog posts, forecast discussions, and audio content.
  • NOAA / National Weather Service — public forecast, radar imagery, and alert data.

Your use of those services through the Site is also subject to their respective terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for the practices of third-party providers.

9. Service modifications and discontinuation

The Site is offered on an ongoing but not guaranteed basis. We may, at any time and without prior notice, add, change, suspend, limit, or discontinue any feature, page, data source, notification channel, or portion of the Site — including push notifications, contact-form messaging, blog archives, live radar, or AI-generated content — for operational, legal, security, or economic reasons.

10. Disclaimer of warranties

THE SITE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, OR AVAILABILITY. We do not warrant that forecasts, radar frames, or alerts will be accurate, complete, timely, or uninterrupted.

11. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, METRO EAST WEATHER AND ITS OPERATORS, CONTRIBUTORS, AND SUPPLIERS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR PROPERTY, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SITE OR ANY INFORMATION IT PROVIDES — INCLUDING ANY DAMAGES RELATED TO SEVERE WEATHER OR RELIANCE ON WEATHER INFORMATION. Our total aggregate liability for any claim arising from these Terms or your use of the Site shall not exceed the greater of US$20 or the amount you paid us in the twelve months preceding the claim.

12. Indemnification

You agree to defend and indemnify Metro East Weather from any claim or demand arising out of your violation of these Terms or your misuse of the Site.

13. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Site at any time for violation of these Terms or for operational reasons. You may stop using the Site or delete your account at any time.

14. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Venue for any dispute lies in the state or federal courts located in Illinois.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The "Last updated" date reflects the most recent revision. Continued use of the Site after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

16. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Reach us via the Contact page.