Perry Weather alternative: Flash vs Perry Weather for lightning and heat decisions

The short answer

Perry Weather alerts on confirmed strikes. Its own site says it uses the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN), detects lightning and alerts your team in under 20 seconds, and pairs the software with on-site sirens, strobes and a weather station that reads WBGT. Flash forecasts, for every 1×1 km cell, the likelihood of a cloud-to-ground strike in the next 60 minutes, refreshed every 2 minutes, with no hardware required. Choose Perry Weather if your priority is a strike-confirmed alert and an on-site heat reading from one vendor. Choose Flash if you need to make the call before the first strike. Many sites run detection and prediction together.

What Perry Weather does well

Everything in this section is as published on perryweather.com, checked 15 Oct 2026.

• Strike-confirmed alerts. Perry Weather triggers on lightning located by the NLDN, the same network Flash uses as ground truth when it scores its own forecasts.
• Zones and timers that match your policy. You set the alert radius per location, create multiple detection zones, and a countdown timer restarts with each new strike before an all-clear goes out.
• A complete on-site package. Perry Weather sells sirens with text-to-speech PA messages, strobes that run for the length of a delay, and a weather station with sensors for WBGT, heat index, wind and rain, plus an HD snapshot camera. Units use built-in cellular, with solar options.
• Delay records. It stores a timestamped history of every lightning delay and can email reports on a schedule, which helps with claims and compliance.
• People on call. Meteorologist support runs 8am to 5pm on the Core tier and 24/7 on Plus and Advanced.

Perry Weather names Round Rock ISD, which it says covers 47,000 students, among its customer stories. If your heat policy requires a WBGT reading taken on your own site, an on-site station like Perry Weather’s is a direct way to meet it.

How Flash approaches the same problem

A detection alert starts when a strike lands inside your radius, so the first strike near your field is what sets it off. Flash works on the hour before. The model ingests 30+ integrated data signals and scores every 1×1 km cell across the continental U.S. for the next 60 minutes, re-running every 2 minutes. When your cell is flagged, the athletic trainer, the superintendent or the pool manager gets the call with a time attached, before the first strike.

• 60 minlead time, up to
• 1×1 kmcell per site
• 2 minmodel refresh
• Up to 99.6%one-hour lightning accuracy

Flash’s one-hour lightning accuracy is up to 99.6%, scored hit or miss per cell against NLDN strikes. The definitions and the arithmetic are on the accuracy method page. Detected strikes still appear on the same Flash map, and the all-clear timer runs from the last strike, so prediction moves the first decision earlier without changing your return-to-play rule.

Flash needs no hardware. Alerts go out through the web app, the mobile app, SMS and email, and through relays to horns and strobes you already own. If you want a siren that sounds on the forecast rather than on the strike, Flash Weather Shield is solar-powered and cellular, in three sizes for courses, fields and pools. For heat, Flash gives a 6-hour WBGT outlook so you can move practice before the reading climbs. It plans around an on-site reading; it does not replace one.

Perry Weather vs Flash, side by side

• Perry Weather

  What triggers a lightning alert

  A strike detected by the NLDN inside your configured radius

  Stated speed or lead time

  Alerts in under 20 seconds of detection, per its site

  All-clear

  Countdown timer resets with each strike, then an all-clear alert

  Heat

  On-site WBGT and heat index sensors on its weather station

  Hardware

  Sirens, strobes, weather station, relay controller, sold as packages

  Users

  Up to 50, 250 or 500 by tier

  Pricing

  Core, Plus and Advanced tiers, quoted; no prices published

• Flash

  What triggers a lightning alert

  A forecast for your 1×1 km cell, up to 60 minutes before the first strike

  Stated speed or lead time

  Up to 60 minutes of lead time, refreshed every 2 minutes

  All-clear

  All-clear timer after the last strike, with detected strikes on the same map

  Heat

  6-hour WBGT outlook; keep an on-site device where policy names one

  Hardware

  None required; relays for existing horns, or Flash Weather Shield

  Users

  Unlimited users per site

  Pricing

  Per site, annual, quoted after a demo; free app tier for individuals

When Perry Weather is the better fit

• Your written policy requires an on-site WBGT reading and you want that sensor, the siren and the software from one vendor.
• Your policy is built purely on a detected-strike radius and you mainly need it automated, logged and broadcast across the site.
• You want a single hardware lease that covers sirens, strobes and a weather station at each location.

When Flash is the better fit

• Storms build over your site rather than arriving from a distance, so the first strike nearby is often the first warning a detection radius can give.
• You run many sites, such as a district, a park system or a golf portfolio, and want each one on its own 1×1 km cell without installing anything.
• You want the decision to come with a time attached, so you can move warm-ups, hold buses or clear the back nine before a strike rather than after it.

Flash is a Preferred Vendor Partner across all 700+ Troon golf properties, the official weather safety provider of the Big 12 Conference, and the Official Weather Monitoring & Alert System of the NAIA through October 2028.

Running both

This does not have to be either-or. A detection system confirms the strike and anchors the return-to-play clock; Flash gives you the hour before it. If your district already has Perry Weather sirens and a WBGT station, Flash can sit alongside them as the early call. The everyone else vs Flash comparison covers how prediction and detection fit together in one safety plan.

• Prediction vs sensors vs detection  →
• Read the accuracy method  →
• Pricing  →

Frequently asked