Weather Promo Agent
Turns next week's forecast into this week's promo, automatically drafted.
Every Monday morning, this agent checks the 7-day forecast for your zip code and matches it against a playbook you built once: two rainy days followed by clearing skies means a "hangover wash" push Wednesday through Friday; a stretch of high wind or pollen means a dust-and-pollen special; a stable week means no promo at all rather than a forced one. It drafts the specific copy — a text to members, a social post, an in-lane sign line — timed to when the weather actually creates demand. You review the draft in five minutes Monday morning and approve it, tweak it, or skip the week entirely. No more scrambling to write a rain-day post after the rain's already over.
What this agent takes off your plate
- A weather-matched promo drafted automatically every Monday, timed to when demand will actually spike
- No promo forced during unremarkable weeks — the agent knows when to say nothing
- Consistent messaging across text, social, and in-lane signage from one weekly source
- Five minutes of review instead of scrambling to write copy after a rain event has already passed
- A log of which weather-triggered promos actually moved volume, so the playbook gets sharper each season
The stack
Real costs & ROI
- ChatGPT or Claude (free tier) plus an API key for the automated run$0–1/mothe free chat tier is fine for building the playbook; the Monday automation calls the OpenAI or Anthropic API directly, and one forecast prompt a week costs pennies
- Open-Meteo weather API$0/mofree for non-commercial-scale use, no API key, returns a 7-day daily forecast for any lat/long
- Make (free tier) or Zapier Starter$0 or ~$20/mothe weather call needs Webhooks by Zapier (paid Starter, ~$20/mo) or Make's free tier — Make is the cheaper path here, since its HTTP module is included free
- Social scheduling tool or SMS sending (optional)$0–20/moa free Buffer/Later tier handles posting; SMS through your POS system or a tool like OpenPhone may add a small monthly cost
The math
Rain-hangover traffic is one of the most reliable, under-captured demand spikes in the car wash business — cars get dirty fast in the days right after rain, and the operators who message that window capture volume the ones who don't simply miss. Run the math on your own list: if a well-timed message to 500 members or subscribers gets even 15 of them to make an extra visit at $10–20, that's $150–300 from one week's text. This agent costs $0–40/month to run and takes 5 minutes of review a week, so one modest promo a month covers it. The bigger value is consistency: nobody has to remember to check the forecast and scramble to write copy — it's just there every Monday.
Build steps
Build your weather-to-promo playbook
Before automating anything, define which weather patterns actually drive your traffic and what to say for each. This is worth doing even standalone.
Data you need
If you have historical volume data alongside weather (even a rough memory of "we're always slammed the day after it rains"), that's useful — otherwise general seasonal knowledge of your market is fine to start.
I run a car wash and I want to build a weather-to-promo playbook so I know exactly what to message for different forecast patterns. My location: [CITY/REGION] My format: [express / flex-serve / full-service] What I've noticed about weather and traffic: [DESCRIBE — e.g. "we're always busy 1-2 days after rain clears", "windy days after a dry spell bring in dusty cars", "nobody washes during an active storm"] Please build me: 1. **A "rain hangover" trigger and message** — 1+ rainy days followed by clearing skies; timing (usually 1–3 days after last rain); a promo angle (member push, "clean start" messaging, or simple reminder — no discount required if demand is already organic) 2. **A "dust/pollen" trigger and message** — extended dry, windy, or high-pollen stretch; timing; a promo angle specific to visible grime, not generic 3. **A "pre-storm" trigger and message** (optional, if relevant to my market) — a day before a significant storm, a "wash before it hits" nudge 4. **A "nothing to say" rule** — what forecast patterns should result in NO promo that week, so I'm not manufacturing urgency out of nothing 5. **A tone guide** — 3–4 words for how these should sound (e.g., "upbeat, not pushy" or "practical, weather-aware") 6. **A channel plan** — which promos go to members via text, which go to social, which get an in-lane sign Save this as my weather playbook — every future weekly prompt will reference it.
Set up your weekly forecast pull
Connect a free weather source for your location so the agent has fresh data every Monday. One honest constraint up front: Zapier's free tier can't make this call, because Webhooks by Zapier is a premium app. The weather call needs Webhooks by Zapier (paid Starter, ~$20/mo) or Make's free tier — Make is the cheaper path here. Trigger → forecast call → clean-up: - Trigger: Make Scheduler (Mondays, 6am) — or Schedule by Zapier "Every Week" if you're paying for Starter. - Forecast: Make "HTTP — Make a request" (GET) or Webhooks by Zapier "GET" to https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=[LAT]&longitude=[LON]&daily=precipitation_sum,precipitation_probability_max,temperature_2m_max,wind_speed_10m_max&forecast_days=7&timezone=auto. No API key. Get your lat/long by right-clicking your site on Google Maps. - Parse: Make parses the JSON automatically; in Zapier the webhook step exposes each daily array as fields. - Clean-up: a Make "Text aggregator" (or Formatter by Zapier "Utilities — Line Itemizer") turns the seven daily values into a plain list like "Mon: 0.4 in rain, 71°F, wind 12 mph" so the AI step gets readable text instead of raw arrays. - Test it once by running the scenario manually and checking the seven days match your phone's forecast app.
Data you need
You'll need your site's latitude and longitude and a Make account (free) or Zapier Starter. Open-Meteo's free tier covers 7-day daily precipitation, temperature, and wind with no key or signup.
Agent Pack
Unlock the Car Wash Agent Pack.
One payment unlocks all 3 blueprints in this pack — build steps, the complete system prompt, guardrails, a test checklist, and the maintenance routine — for $29.
one-time, unlocks all 3 blueprints in this pack on this browser. Secure checkout via Stripe.
More in this pack
More for Car Wash
Membership Save Agent
Catches members drifting toward cancellation before they actually cancel.
Review Reply Agent
Every review answered within a day, in your voice, without promising anything you can't back up.