Privacy
What UK Snow Map does with your data.
Introduction
Your privacy is very important to us at UK Snow Map and we take our responsibilities very seriously.
During our operation we use a number of different platforms and we want you to be fully aware of what we are doing with your data.
This privacy notice tells you what to expect when UK Snow Map collects personal data. It applies to information we collect about visitors to our website, social media interactions and email interactions.
Social media
UK Snow Map is driven by publicly available posts on Bluesky and X. UK Snow Map processes and extracts location and additional information from these to populate the map. We also use the analytics programs provided by Google. Personal data is not provided by the analytics programs.
We advise you to read the privacy policies of Google Analytics, Bluesky and X so that you are aware of their use of your personal data.
Website
The website is hosted by Linode and Cloudflare, and in order to pursue their legitimate interest of maintaining the security of our website, they may collect and log your IP address and device details. This data is not used for any purpose other than security and maintenance.
Live viewers
While the map is open, it sends us a rough location about once a minute, so the map can show small dots for the people watching. This is your location if you choose to show it on the map, the area you chose for the snow outlook, or a rough location from your IP address.
We move each location to a square about 5km across before we count it, and keep only the number of viewers in each square for a few minutes. We do not keep your location, IP address or any ID for you. You can hide the dots with the People watching button.
Cookies and browser storage
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. The table below explains the cookies and browser storage we use and why.
| Cookie | Name | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| UK Snow Map | settings | Your individual site preferences |
| UK Snow Map (browser storage) | uksnowmap:area | The postcode area you choose for the snow outlook, for example "S" (Sheffield). It stays in your browser's local storage. The live viewers dots use it as your rough location (see above). To remove it, clear the site data for uksnowmap.com in your browser. |
| UK Snow Map (browser storage) | uksnowmap:theme | Your choice of a light or dark theme, if you make one. It stays in your browser's local storage and is not sent to us. |
| UK Snow Map (browser storage) | uksnowmap:font | Your choice of font, if you make one. It stays in your browser's local storage and is not sent to us. |
| UK Snow Map (browser storage) | uksnowmap:viewers | Whether you hid the live viewers dots. It stays in your browser's local storage and is not sent to us. |
| Google Analytics | _gat _ga _gid |
These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our website. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the website. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the website, where visitors have come to the website from and the pages they visited. Read Google's overview of privacy and safeguarding data. To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites please visit tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. |
| Google AdSense | __gads | Google use cookies to serve advertisements based on your previous visits to our website or other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our website and/or other sites on the Internet. You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ad Settings. You can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalised advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info. |
Your rights
The ICO explains the rights that data subjects have in their guide to individual rights. The GDPR provides the following rights for individuals:
- The right to be informed
- The right of access
- The right to rectification
- The right to erasure
- The right to restrict processing
- The right to data portability
- The right to object
- Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling.
Contact details
If you wish to exercise any of your rights, make a query or make a complaint about your privacy then please email us at [email protected].
You can contact the ICO on 0303 123 1113, by email or write to them at:
Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF.
Last updated: 10 November 2026