Introducing CAT Watch: A Free Live Storm & Disaster Map for Adjusters and Contractors
Every restoration company and public adjuster we work with checks the same four things before deciding where to send crews after a storm: what the Weather Service is warning about right now, where hail and wind actually hit yesterday, whether anything shook, and whether FEMA has declared. Those live on four different government sites. We put them on one map, and it's free. Open CAT Watch.
The four layers
- NWS warnings and watches — hurricane, tropical storm, storm surge, tornado, severe thunderstorm, flood, high wind, red flag and winter warnings, drawn as the polygons the Weather Service issues them in. Refreshes every five minutes. This is the “what's happening now” layer.
- Storm reports — every hail, wind and tornado report logged by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center for today and yesterday, with size, speed and the reporter's notes. This is the “where did damage actually happen” layer, and the closest free equivalent to the paid hail-swath apps roofers subscribe to.
- Earthquakes — USGS events of magnitude 2.5 and above in the last 24 hours. Rarely relevant east of the Rockies, essential west of them.
- FEMA declarations — every county designated under a major disaster, emergency or fire-management declaration in the last 90 days, badged per state with the event list in the side panel.
Why the declaration date matters in Florida
Under §626.854, a Florida public adjuster's fee is capped at 10% — instead of the usual 20% — for claims arising from a Governor-declared state of emergency, for one year after the declaration. That single date changes the economics of every claim in the affected counties, which is why the map keeps the declaration list beside the Florida view rather than buried in a popup. Our public adjuster fee calculator has the same toggle.
How to read it
- Many watches are issued for zones, not polygons, and appear in the layer count but not on the map. Warnings almost always draw.
- Storm report times are UTC (the “Z”). Hail sizes are in inches; wind in mph; tornadoes carry an EF rating when one has been assigned.
- The Florida button filters every layer to the state and zooms in; US resets.
- Toggle a layer off to declutter — the hail/wind layer alone can carry several hundred dots after a big outbreak.
Alerts for your counties
The side panel has a short form: your email, your state, and the counties you work. When a declaration lands in one of them we email you — and, because it's us, we're also telling you that estimating capacity is ready. That is the honest reason the map exists: when your market gets hit, we want to be the first call for the estimates.