Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 12, 2026

The short version StormDPS does not collect personal information. There are no user accounts, no analytics SDKs, no advertising, no third-party tracking, no data sales, and no way to contact you. The site and mobile app exist to display public hurricane data — nothing about you is stored on our servers beyond ordinary security logs.

1. Who we are

StormDPS is an independent open-data tropical cyclone analysis project operated by Ryan Reaves. It is not affiliated with NOAA, the National Hurricane Center, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, or any commercial weather service. For inquiries: reavesrg@gmail.com.

2. What we do not collect

To remove any ambiguity, here is an explicit list of categories we do not collect, store, sell, or share:

Name, email address, phone number, mailing address, or any other contact information
Date of birth, age, gender, or demographic data
User accounts, passwords, or authentication credentials (there are none to create)
Precise location, approximate location, or GPS coordinates from your device
Contacts, photos, microphone, camera, or any other on-device permission
Financial information, payment data, or purchase history (the app is free; there is nothing to charge)
Browsing history outside of StormDPS
Identifiers for advertising (IDFA, AAID, etc.)
Health data, biometric data, or any sensitive category
Data about minors specifically — we do not target children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them

3. What information is technically necessary

Server access logs

When your browser or our mobile app fetches data from stormdps.com, our hosting provider (Railway) records standard HTTP access logs: the request URL, an IP address, a timestamp, and a User-Agent string. These logs are used for security (blocking abusive traffic, debugging outages) and are retained for up to 30 days, then deleted. We do not associate these logs with any personal identity because we do not collect personal identities.

Cloudflare proxy

StormDPS uses Cloudflare as a CDN and DDoS mitigation layer. Cloudflare may briefly process IP addresses and User-Agent strings as part of its security service. Cloudflare's privacy policy is at cloudflare.com/privacypolicy.

Fonts (self-hosted)

The "Inter" typeface used by the website is served directly from stormdps.com as a static asset — your browser does not contact Google or any third-party font CDN to load it. The mobile app likewise bundles its own fonts.

Local preferences (your device only)

The web app uses your browser's localStorage to remember small UI preferences — for example, which sections of the sidebar you have collapsed. This data is stored on your device, never transmitted to our servers, and you can clear it at any time via your browser's site-data controls. The mobile app similarly stores UI preferences locally on your device.

4. Mobile app specifics

The StormDPS mobile app for iOS and Android:

Does not request location permission
Does not send push notifications in version 1.0 (this may change in a future version — if added, opt-in only, with no identifying data attached)
Does not request access to camera, microphone, photos, contacts, or any other sensitive resource
Does not include any third-party SDK that performs analytics, crash reporting, advertising, or telemetry
Makes HTTP requests only to the StormDPS API at stormdps.com/api/ to fetch storm data

5. Data sources

The storm data displayed by StormDPS is sourced from public records published by the U.S. National Hurricane Center, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, NOAA's IBTrACS archive, and the ATCF system. Those sources are independent of StormDPS and have their own privacy policies, which apply to any direct visits you make to their sites. StormDPS itself receives no personal information from those sources.

6. Cookies

StormDPS does not set tracking cookies. The site uses no first-party or third-party cookies for analytics, advertising, or personalization. A handful of strictly technical cookies may be set by Cloudflare for security purposes (e.g., to verify your browser is not part of an attack). These cookies do not identify you personally and are managed by Cloudflare under its own policy.

7. Your rights

Because we do not collect personal data, there is no personal record to access, correct, delete, or export. You can clear any locally-stored UI preferences at any time via your browser or device settings. If you believe StormDPS holds data about you that you would like investigated, contact reavesrg@gmail.com and we will respond within 30 days.

8. Children

StormDPS is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child has provided personal information to us — which would be unusual given that we do not provide any way to do so — please contact us and we will investigate.

9. International users

StormDPS is operated from the United States. If you access the site or app from outside the United States, the limited technical data described above (IP addresses in server logs) is processed in the United States. By using StormDPS you consent to this transfer. Because we do not collect personal data, GDPR and CCPA "data subject" rights are largely moot, but we will respond in good faith to any request submitted under those frameworks.

10. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes — for example, if a future version of the mobile app introduces opt-in push notifications and we need to describe how push tokens are handled — we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, where reasonable, announce the change on the homepage. We will not silently expand data collection beyond what is described here.

11. Contact

Privacy questions, corrections, or concerns: reavesrg@gmail.com.