diff --git a/server/scripts/index.mjs b/server/scripts/index.mjs
index a8e9393..8c92769 100644
--- a/server/scripts/index.mjs
+++ b/server/scripts/index.mjs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import {
 	message as navMessage, isPlaying, resize, resetStatuses, latLonReceived, stopAutoRefreshTimer, registerRefreshData,
 } from './modules/navigation.mjs';
 import { round2 } from './modules/utils/units.mjs';
-import { readLink } from './modules/share.mjs';
+import { parseQueryString } from './modules/share.mjs';
 
 document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
 	init();
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ const init = () => {
 	};
 
 	// attempt to parse the url parameters
-	const parsedParameters = readLink();
+	const parsedParameters = parseQueryString();
 
 	const loadFromParsed = parsedParameters.latLonQuery && parsedParameters.latLon;
 
diff --git a/server/scripts/modules/share.mjs b/server/scripts/modules/share.mjs
index 793045a..a62e1e3 100644
--- a/server/scripts/modules/share.mjs
+++ b/server/scripts/modules/share.mjs
@@ -43,12 +43,16 @@ const createLink = async (e) => {
 	}
 };
 
-const readLink = () => {
+const parseQueryString = () => {
+	// return memoized result
+	if (parseQueryString.params) return parseQueryString.params;
 	const urlSearchParams = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
-	return Object.fromEntries(urlSearchParams.entries());
+	// memoize result
+	parseQueryString.params = Object.fromEntries(urlSearchParams.entries());
+	return parseQueryString.params;
 };
 
 export {
 	createLink,
-	readLink,
+	parseQueryString,
 };
diff --git a/server/scripts/modules/weatherdisplay.mjs b/server/scripts/modules/weatherdisplay.mjs
index 0c89bfa..247d5d0 100644
--- a/server/scripts/modules/weatherdisplay.mjs
+++ b/server/scripts/modules/weatherdisplay.mjs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { DateTime } from '../vendor/auto/luxon.mjs';
 import {
 	msg, displayNavMessage, isPlaying, updateStatus, timeZone,
 } from './navigation.mjs';
+import { parseQueryString } from './share.mjs';
 
 class WeatherDisplay {
 	constructor(navId, elemId, name, defaultEnabled) {
@@ -50,8 +51,15 @@ class WeatherDisplay {
 		// no checkbox if progress
 		if (this.elemId === 'progress') return false;
 
-		// get the saved status of the checkbox
-		let savedStatus = window.localStorage.getItem(`display-enabled: ${this.elemId}`);
+		// get url provided state
+		const urlValue = parseQueryString()?.[`${this.elemId}-checkbox`];
+		let urlState;
+		if (urlValue !== undefined) {
+			urlState = urlValue === 'true';
+		}
+
+		// get the saved status of the checkbox, but defer to a value set in the url
+		let savedStatus = urlState ?? window.localStorage.getItem(`display-enabled: ${this.elemId}`);
 		if (savedStatus === null) savedStatus = defaultEnabled;
 		this.isEnabled = !!((savedStatus === 'true' || savedStatus === true));