What it is
Amazon Flex blocks get cancelled when a station closes its doors for weather, and the first a driver usually hears of it is at the gate. This tracker watches the public weather picture around every Amazon Flex delivery station and other Amazon site in the United States, all day, and shows in one place which stations currently have weather reports of the kind that go with a closure: severe weather warnings, tornado warnings, lightning close by. It adds the national radar with the model's next hour, a 12-hour and 3-day forecast for every station, and free closure alerts by email or phone notification for the stations you choose.
It is an independent tool built by a driver for drivers, run on one small server at stationclosed.com. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates; "Amazon Flex" names the delivery program the tracked stations belong to. Everything here is an unofficial reading of public weather information. Station leadership makes the final call on closures, and a block is never guaranteed either way.
How a station gets its colour
For every station the server gathers the weather reports and advisories currently active for the surrounding area (started, not expired, not cancelled) and ranks them by severity. When the most severe one is at the red level, the station shows as weather reports indicate a closed station. When something is active but below that level, such as lightning in the area or a wind advisory, the station shows as weather advisories near the station. With nothing active, it has no local weather advisories. The kinds of report that count as the red level are listed on the map page under "How this tracker works".
Lightning is handled separately: the server keeps the last 30 minutes of lightning reports from national lightning databases and flags each station with a strike reported within 6 miles (and, more loosely, within 10). Cloud-to-cloud flashes are ignored. The all-clear time is 30 minutes after the latest strike inside 6 miles, which is the rule most stations follow for reopening doors. A tornado icon appears when a station sits inside an active National Weather Service tornado warning polygon.
Where the data comes from
- Advisories, tornado warnings and forecasts: the National Weather Service, through its public data services.
- Radar: NOAA's national base-reflectivity mosaic, redrawn on the tracker's own map. The hour ahead comes from NOAA's HRRR model as published by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.
- Lightning: national lightning databases, refreshed every half minute.
- Station locations: public station lists (Warehouse.ninja and others). Station security incidents ("Something is going on at the station. It might be closed.") come from police dispatch and local news reports.
- Flexer reports: once accounts are open, signed-in drivers can report a station closed or open from its details; the flag lasts 30 minutes and sits beside the weather status without changing it.
The server fetches all of it once, for everyone; your browser talks to this site, and to the ad network while ads are shown. None of these weather services ever sees who you are.
What the map shows you
Accounts and alerts are not open yet, so there is nothing to sign in to: everyone sees every station on the map and in the lists. Once accounts open, a free account will watch its own three stations and get closure alerts for them.
Everyone gets the radar loop over the whole country with the last hour and the next hour, and the forecast for any station they can open. While the ads on the page are showing, the picture updates live, every half minute.
Alerts
Sign in with an email address or a US mobile number and a 6-digit code (there are no passwords). Pick your stations, choose a radius if you want closures nearby too, and save. When weather reports indicate a closure at one of them, you get an email, or a free notification on your phone or computer if you turned those on. The message says which station, gives an estimated reopening time, and warns which block start times may not be cancellable. Nothing is sent between 9 PM and 3 AM local time unless a closure is still going at 3 AM. Every email has a stop link, and texts are only ever sign-in codes.
Questions drivers ask
The tracker says my station is closed, but I got a block there. The tracker reads weather reports, not the station's decision. A red status means the reports around the station are of the kind that usually goes with a closure; a station can stay open through them, and can close without them. Treat it as an early warning and check the Flex app.
Why did the status change back to open so quickly? Weather reports have an end time and lightning has a 30-minute all-clear rule; when they lapse, the status follows. Reopening is the station's call and may come later than the tracker's estimate.
Does it cover Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico? Stations there are listed, but the radar mosaic and lightning feeds cover the lower 48 states only.
Can I see stations I don't watch? Type any station's code above the map to open its details and forecast. The lists and alerts stay with the stations you chose.
Is it free? Yes. Ads pay for the server, and there is a Donate button in the top bar for anyone who wants to help with the upkeep. Donations grant nothing; they just keep the lights on.
Where does my data go? Nowhere. The privacy page lists exactly what the site keeps in your browser and on the server, and how to delete an account.
Contact
Corrections, a station that is missing or misplaced, or anything else: support@stationclosed.com.