Mike,
I sent email before I learned of the forum so I present my idea here. Maybe others have ideas that might help.
I suggest to change the shape of the Icon to something else while in alert mode. I don’t know what this might be though since you need to display the temp clearly. I was thinking maybe a diamond shape which is fairly standard for attention getting on the roadway.
It really can’t be done with color changing under the current design since those are reserved for negative temperature indication.
If I’m not the one using the pc when the bubble appears then I don’t know its in alert mode while Weather Watcher is minimized. Also, then if the alert is over I don’t know that either by just the icon as it is now.
I don’t know if you popup a bubble when the alert mode ends since I’ve been in alert mode since I started using this! Weather’s not been good around here in New Jersey for a few days. That might be an interesting piece of news to bubble up especially if an alert is cancelled when nothing actually became of the alert as it were.