Wind alerts for marquee and inflatable hire firms
A hire firm has marquees, inflatables, staging and screens out on several sites in the same week. Gustline watches the forecast for each of them, so you hear about a bad day before the customer does.
A limit for each piece of kit
Add each booking as an event with its own pin and its own structures. Set the limit from the design certificate for a marquee, from the manual and the 24mph rule for an inflatable and from the designer's figure for staging or a screen.
One price for the season
A season pass or a year pass covers every event you add to your account, so each site with your kit on it is watched. A single booking can be added on its own with the one-event plan.
Tell the customer early
An alert up to seven days ahead gives you time to call the customer, move a booking or plan extra staff before the day. Every alert is logged with a timestamp.
Snow and rain too
Every plan includes alerts for snow and heavy rain, which bear on marquee heating and anchors, as well as ice and frost, heat, fog, thunderstorm risk and Environment Agency flood warnings in England.
Plans
- Season pass£99 a season
Every event in a season: winter is October to March, summer is April to September.
- Year pass£179 a year
Every event, all year. Renews yearly, cancel any time.
- This event£19 one-off
One market, show or festival of up to 14 days, watched until it closes.
Included in every plan: wind, ice and frost, heavy rain, heat, fog, snow, thunderstorm risk (forecast), flood warnings (England).
Wind and weather guides
- Wind limits for inflatables and bouncy castles
HSE and PIPA say no inflatable should be used in winds or gusts above 24mph. What the rule means for bookings, how often to measure and where a forecast fits.
- Wind limits for marquees and tents
A marquee's wind limit comes from its design certificate, not a general figure. What MUTA guidance says about design wind load and wind management plans.
- Wind limits for stage roofs, screens and temporary structures
How wind limits work for stage roofs, screens and temporary structures: the IStructE design gust, why sheeted roofs differ and example action levels.
- How to write a wind management plan
What UK guidance says a wind management plan should hold: a limit for each structure, action levels, who decides, how wind is measured and a log.
- Snow on marquees and event sites
MUTA says very few fabric structures can take a snow load and that they should be heated to 12°C when snow is possible. HSE advice on gritting.
- Heavy rain and waterlogging on event sites
The Met Office counts rain as heavy above 4mm an hour. What MUTA says about saturated ground and anchors and what HSE says about wet surfaces.
- How to read a Met Office forecast for an event
What the Met Office forecast table means: wind speed and gust, chance of rain, visibility, hourly and three hourly steps and how accuracy drops with range.
- Gusts or mean wind: which number to plan around
Forecasts give a mean wind speed and a gust speed. Why structure limits are gust limits, how load rises with the square of speed and what to compare.
How Gustline helps
Gustline checks the Met Office site-specific forecast for the point you pin on the map, every six hours from a week out and every hour in the final three days. It compares the forecast gust with the rated limit you enter for each structure and checks the weather alerts you leave on for the event. When a level changes it emails and texts the people you choose. Every alert is logged with a timestamp.
Gustline is an early warning for planning. It does not replace checks on site on the day, the official warnings or your event's own plans.
Set up alerts for your next event