Creating a Forecast

How to draw regions on the map, add predictions, set timing, and publish your forecast.

Getting Started

Creating a forecast on Forecaster HQ takes about five minutes. The wizard walks you through five steps: choosing your forecast type, drawing regions on the map, setting dates and timing, adding predictions, and publishing.

You can save as a draft at any point from step 2 onward — just click "Save Draft" in the header. Drafts are only visible to you and can be resumed later from your dashboard.

Step 1: Choose Your Forecast Type

You'll start by choosing between two forecast types:

Storm Forecast — For a specific weather event (nor'easter, ice storm, etc.). You'll define accumulation ranges, timing phases, and confidence levels for each region.

General Forecast — For a multi-day outlook (3, 5, 7, or 10 days). You'll set daily high/low temperatures, conditions, wind, and precipitation chances for each region.

Give your forecast a title.

Step 2: Draw Your Regions

Use the interactive map to draw regions for the areas you're forecasting. Two drawing modes are available:

Polygon mode — Click to place points, close the shape by clicking on the first point. Best for clean, precise boundaries.

Freehand mode — Click and drag to draw freely. Best for organic shapes and quick sketching.

Each region gets a label (e.g., "North Jersey", "I-95 Corridor") and a color from the palette. Select any region to open the inspector panel where you can also adjust fill opacity, stroke width, and stroke color.

You can also import regions instead of drawing from scratch — paste a Google My Maps link or upload a GeoJSON/KML file. See the importing guide for details.

Step 3: Set Dates & Timing

Set your event start and end dates. For storm forecasts, you can also define timing phases (onset, heaviest, tapering) per region.

Step 4: Add Predictions

For storm forecasts, you'll enter for each region:

Accumulation range (min and max, in inches)

Confidence level (low, medium, high)

For general forecasts, you'll enter for each region and each day:

High and low temperature

Weather condition (sunny, cloudy, rain, snow, etc.)

Wind speed and direction

Precipitation chance

You can also add a narrative — a written explanation of your forecast rationale. This appears on the forecast detail page and helps your audience understand your thinking.

Step 5: Publish

Review your forecast and hit publish. You'll get:

A shareable link to your forecast page

Auto-generated social cards (OG images) for sharing on X, Facebook, and iMessage

An embed code for adding a live widget to your website

Download options for HD images in Story, Post, and Square formats

Editing After Publishing

You can edit a published forecast at any time from your dashboard. Changes are reflected immediately on the shared page and embed widget. Note: storm forecasts become read-only after the event ends to preserve prediction integrity.