To begin processing Integrated Weather Alerts, you must create alert rules that are designed to trigger alert templates. Each weather alert rule must contain a selected county and an alert template before it can be enabled.

You must create weather alert rules for each organization you want to send integrated weather alerts from.

1. Log in to the BlackBerry AtHoc management system.
2. In the navigation bar, click Alerts > Alert Rules.
3. On the Alert Rules page, click the Weather tab.
4. Click New Rule.
5. On the New Rule page, in the General section, enter a name for the rule and select the option to enable the rule.
6. In the Condition section, click Select beside Counties.
7. On the Select Counties window, on the All Counties tab, select one or more counties. You can click All States to filter counties by state. You can also search for a specific zip code.
8. Optionally, click the Selected Counties tab to verify the counties you selected.
9. Optionally, click Modify to change your county selection.
10. Click Apply. You are returned to the New Rule page. The counties you selected appear in the Counties area.
11. Optionally, select a Weather Severity. The following severities are available: Extreme, Severe, Moderate, Minor, and Unknown. You can select one, multiple, or all severities.
12. Optionally, select a Weather Type. You can select one, multiple, or all weather types. See Weather types for the list of available weather types.
13. Optionally, select a Message Type. The following message types are available: Alert, Cancel, and Update. You can select one, multiple, or all message types. Select Alert to send an initial alert to targeted users. Select Update to update and replace an existing alert. Select Cancel to cancel an earlier alert.
14. In the Action section, select an alert template.
15. Optionally, select the Override Geo Information option. When selected, the map from the incoming weather feed overrides any map in the alert template. If the alert template has geo-targeting enabled, the alert is triggered for the location from the feed. If not selected, the map and geo-targeting from the original alert template is used in the triggered alert.
16. Click Save. The new weather alert rule is created and enabled by default.

One alert is generated per rule when an incoming feed matches the rule criteria. All conditions you specify must be met by a weather feed before an alert is triggered. For example, if you select Extreme for Weather Severity, and Coastal Flood Warning for Weather Type for San Mateo county, only weather feeds that are extreme severity coastal flood warnings that target San Mateo county trigger the selected alert template.

If the alert template that triggers the weather alert rule is edited and becomes not ready to publish, the weather alert rule is disabled until an alert template that is ready to publish is selected.