Storm Automation uses HailTrace weather-event data to detect hail and wind storms inside your service area and automatically prepare (or send) mail to affected homeowners. There is nothing to connect: HailTrace is a data feed built into LettrLabs, not a third-party account you sign into. You only need to configure your service area and storm criteria below.
Before you start
No API keys, logins, or external accounts are required. LettrLabs checks HailTrace's weather-event data automatically in the background every day and compares it against the service area and criteria you set up here — you never leave the LettrLabs dashboard.
Step 1: Start a New Storm Automation
From your LettrLabs dashboard, click Automations in the left menu.
Select New Automation, then choose Storm Automation.
Step 2: Name the Automation and Draw Your Service Area
Automation Name: give it a clear label (for example, "Storm Season 2026 – Houston").
Service area: draw it as a radius (drop a pin and set a distance) or a polygon (a custom boundary matching your true footprint).
Your service area needs to cover enough addresses to be enabled — LettrLabs will tell you if it's too small once it finishes counting eligible structures. It's fine to draw a larger area now; you can narrow it storm-by-storm later when you review each event.
Step 3: Choose a Card Template
Pick a handwritten or printed template, and add your logo, brand colors, and a short service-led offer (for example, "Free roof inspection for affected homes. Call today.").
Step 4: Set Storm Criteria
Storm Type: choose Hail or Wind.
Hail: set a minimum and maximum hail size (for example, 1.50" to 2.00"+). Both ends of the range are required, and the maximum must be greater than the minimum.
Wind: set a minimum and maximum wind speed (for example, 90 to 120 mph+), with the same min/max rule.
Property Type: All, Single Family, or Multi-Family.
Home Owner: All, Home Owner, or Renter.
Step 5: Set Maximum Mail per Storm
Use the Max Cards per Storm setting to cap volume for any single event. The minimum allowed is 250, and 1,000 or more is recommended so a single event doesn't overrun your budget or your crew's capacity.
Step 6: Configure Advanced Settings
Targeting Strategy:
Maximum Reach (meteorologist + algorithmic maps combined) — the broadest coverage. Good if you plan to review and refine each storm before it sends.
High Accuracy (meteorologist maps only) — hand-drawn by HailTrace meteorologists, more conservative and tighter to ground truth.
Sending Season (optional): leave it as All Year Round, or restrict the automation to specific months if you only want it active for a season.
Re-sending window: set a cooldown so the same household doesn't get more than one storm mailer within your chosen window — Every Storm, Every 2 Weeks, Every Month, or Every 3 Months.
Holdout Testing (optional): hold back a percentage of matched homes as a control group to measure incremental response. This is only reliable with enough volume — if you turn it on with a Max Cards per Storm below 2,000, you'll see a warning recommending you raise the cap.
Step 7: Choose an Approval Mode
Send Automatically: as soon as a matching storm is detected, LettrLabs places and pays for the order — no action needed from you.
Manual Approval: check "Notify me for approval before executing order" and add one or more notification emails. You'll review every matching storm before anything is printed.
Step 8: Enable
Click Enable Storm Automation. Before it can go live, LettrLabs checks that you've named the automation, set a valid storm-criteria range, chosen a template, set a maximum mail quantity, and drawn a service area with enough eligible structures. Fix anything flagged and enable again. Once active, you can pause the automation at any time.
What Happens After You Enable
Detection: LettrLabs checks HailTrace's weather-event data daily and matches it against every active automation's service area and storm criteria.
Send Automatically automations: a matching storm places and pays for the mail order right away. You'll get a "Storm Auto-Approved" in-app notification in your LettrLabs dashboard linking to the order so you can still review it.
Manual Approval automations: a matching storm creates a detected storm entry and everyone on your Storm Alerts list gets a "Storm ready for review" in-app notification. No mail goes out until you act on it.
Go to Automations → My Storms (also called Detected Storms) to see every qualifying event, with storm type, size/speed, impacted structures, and status.
For each storm you can:
Refine — open a live preview showing your service area, the storm's actual footprint, and the households it matched; adjust thresholds or the number of cards to send before approving.
Approve — queue the mail order for print and mailing.
Skip — archive the event with no charge; your automation stays active for the next storm.
Approved orders follow LettrLabs' storm production path — the same expedited turnaround and First Class postage used for time-sensitive storm response — and you can track delivery in your dashboard.
Notes and Best Practices
Start with Single Family + Home Owner for the highest-intent audience.
Pick Maximum Reach if you plan to review every storm manually; pick High Accuracy if you're comfortable sending automatically.
Use Max Cards per Storm and the Re-sending window together to protect your budget and avoid mailing the same household repeatedly.
Keep templates concise, empathetic, and service-forward — include a QR code or trackable phone number so you can measure response.