The three signals
🟢
HIGH — Strong traffic potential
Weather conditions are favorable or neutral. No significant deterrents to guest arrivals. Good conditions for full staffing and standard operations.
🟡
MIXED — Uncertain conditions
Some weather factors may affect traffic — intermittent rain, marginal temperatures, or timing issues. Guest counts may be uneven across dayparts.
🔴
LOW — Reduced traffic expected
Significant weather deterrents present — severe storms, heavy snow, dangerous wind chills, or extreme heat. Guests are likely to stay home or cancel plans.
What goes into the signal
📄NWS Area Forecast Discussion (AFD) — The primary source. This is the official forecast written by meteorologists at your local National Weather Service office. It's written for professional audiences and contains detailed reasoning about upcoming conditions. GuestFlow reads this every morning.
🌡️Seasonal temperature deviation — If today's high is significantly above or below the 30-year normal for your location and date, that factors into the signal. An unexpectedly hot day in spring or a bitter cold snap in fall affects guest behavior differently than the same temperature in peak season.
⛈️Local Storm Reports (LSRs) — When verified severe weather events occur (tornadoes, significant hail, damaging winds, flooding), those are incorporated into the assessment alongside the forecast data.
🍽️Your business profile — If you've set up your preferences with your venue type, dayparts, and features, the guest impact language is personalized to your operation. A bar open until 2am gets different guidance than a breakfast café.
What the signal is not
The signal is a guest traffic indicator, not a raw weather forecast. A sunny 95°F day in July might still be HIGH because people are out and about. A mild 55°F rainy Tuesday might be MIXED because lunch traffic tends to dip on rainy weekday afternoons.
The AI reads the full forecast discussion and reasons about guest behavior — not just temperature or precipitation in isolation.
Want to learn more? Visit the
FAQ for common questions about using GuestFlow, or the
Weather Glossary for plain-English definitions of terms you might encounter.
