The day I stopped trusting my own weather app for outdoor installs

I used to just pull up a forecast the night before and assume it was good enough for scheduling. Then last August I drove 45 minutes to a job site outside Denver, got the condenser set on the pad, and a pop-up thunderstorm rolled in out of nowhere. Soaked everything, had to pack up and come back the next day. That was the moment I started cross-referencing three different radar sites and actually watching satellite loops before I leave the shop. Now I track dew points and wind gusts too because wet coils on a steep roof are no joke. My buddy says I'm overthinking it but I haven't wasted a trip since. Has anyone else had their whole workflow shifted by one bad weather call?

2 comments

2 Comments

marywells19d ago

Does checking dew points and wind gusts ever lead you to cancel jobs that other guys in your area still run? I'm wondering if that extra caution saves you from anything beyond just wet equipment (like a safety incident waiting to happen). Because my buddy who does residential in Phoenix says watching those numbers just makes him stay home more than his competitors.

gonzalez.rowan19d agoTop Commenter

Not really about being a hero, it's about not killing someone. Wet deck at 5 AM with 20 mph gusts? That's a ladder slidin out from under you waiting to happen. Seen a guy break his arm that way because he thought he was tougher than the numbers. Phoenix buddy might be losing jobs but he's probably not getting sued for a worker falling through a skylight either.