Terms of Service

Nature of service and heuristic scoring

LakeRadar compiles, normalizes, and presents weather forecasts from the National Weather Service (NWS), water measurements from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and curated facts from authoritative state and federal agencies.

Scores are heuristics, not safety guarantees. Our 0–100 activity scores and condition assessments represent algorithmic heuristics based on available data points. They do not account for microclimate anomalies, sudden localized squalls, subsurface hazards, dam releases, unreported debris, or sudden equipment closures.

Official warnings and on-water judgment

LakeRadar scores summarize available conditions and are not a substitute for official warnings, local rules, or on-water judgment.

You are solely responsible for your own safety and the safety of those aboard your vessel. Never use LakeRadar as an emergency navigation device or as a substitute for official marine forecasts, Coast Guard advisories, or National Weather Service watches and warnings. When an official alert is issued, that alert supersedes all LakeRadar calculations.

Data provenance and intellectual property

Meteorological data and hydrological measurements displayed on LakeRadar originate from U.S. government agencies (including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and USGS) and are public domain. Sourced lake facts, access point details, and species references are attributed to their respective publishers in our data sources registry.

The LakeRadar website design, branding, software codebase, scoring engine algorithms, curated editorial syntheses, and compiled database structures are the proprietary property of LakeRadar.

Acceptable use and programmatic access

You agree to use LakeRadar only for lawful recreation planning and research purposes. You agree not to:

• Engage in automated scraping or high-volume query flooding that degrades or impairs service availability for other users.
• Attempt to bypass, manipulate, or circumvent API rate limits on our search endpoints.
• Redistribute, syndicate, or rebrand LakeRadar scores as definitive safety certifications or authorized marine navigation warnings.

Disclaimer of warranties

LakeRadar is provided on an “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” basis without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise. We make no warranty that the site will be uninterrupted, error-free, timely, or completely free of data discrepancies caused by upstream station outages or sensor drift.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall LakeRadar, its operators, or contributors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of or related to your use of, or inability to use, this site or its information. This includes, without limitation, personal injury, vessel damage, property loss, or recreation outcomes.

Questions regarding terms

Questions regarding these Terms of Service or data licensing should be sent to contact@lakeradar.com or via our contact page.