PGEN forecast maps

1. 1Click PGEN on the toolbar. The Drawing Tools window opens on the Draw tab.
2. 2Under Fronts, click Cold Front. The button stays highlighted while the tool is on.
3. 3On the map, click where the front starts, then click more points along it. Press Enter or double-click to finish. The front is selected and the Style tab opens.
4. 4Under Pressure, click Low (L), then click the map at the low’s center.
5. 5Click Text, then click the map. Double-click the New Text label, type your text and click anywhere else on the map to finish.
6. 6To change anything, click it on the map (with no tool on) or click its row in the Layers list. Its settings open on the Style tab.
7. 7Type a name in the Product Name box and click Save New. Sign in if asked.

The window floats over the map. Drag its header to move it. The Mount in map UI button next to the close button docks it beside the map on a desktop screen. Closing the window with × keeps everything you drew on the map.

1. 1Click Line, Polygon, Arrow or one of the Fronts tools.
2. 2Click the map to set the first point.
3. 3Click to add each next point. The segment to it is straight.
4. 4To curve a segment, press on the spot for the next point and drag before you let go. The segment bends toward where you drag, and the preview follows the pointer.
5. 5Press Backspace to take back the last point you added.
6. 6Press Enter or double-click to finish. With Polygon, you can also click the square handle on the first point (it appears after three points) to close the area.
7. 7The new feature is selected and its Style tab opens. The tool turns off.

1. 1With no tool on, click the line, front or polygon on the map, or click its row in the Layers list.
2. 2Drag any white square to move that point.
3. 3On a curved segment, drag the small white circle (its tooltip reads Drag to adjust curve) to change the bend.
4. 4Click a blue dot in the middle of a segment to add a point there. On a straight segment, drag the blue dot instead to bend it into a curve.
5. 5Drag the orange dot above the path (Drag to rotate) to turn the whole path around its center.
6. 6Drag the line or area itself to move all of it. The pointer turns into a hand when you are over it.

Fronts use standard NWS symbols and colors, and the colors are fixed. Cold Front draws blue triangles, Warm Front red half-circles, Stationary alternates red half-circles and blue triangles on opposite sides of a red and blue line, Occluded alternates purple triangles and half-circles on one side, and Dryline draws brown half-circles. Stream Arrows draws arrowheads spaced along the path, pointing the way you drew it.

1. 1Under Fronts, click the front type.
2. 2Click points along the front’s position and press Enter to finish.
3. 3If the symbols are on the wrong side, turn on Flip Symbols on the Style tab.
4. 4Set Front Size and Spacing to taste.

1. 1Under Pressure, click High (H) or Low (L).
2. 2Click the map at the pressure center. The symbol is placed and selected.
3. 3Drag the blue box around it to move it.
4. 4Drag the small blue square at the box’s bottom-right corner to make it bigger or smaller.
5. 5On the Style tab, set the arrows, colors and outline.

1. 1Click Hurricane under Tropical, or Fire or Rotating Storm under Hazards.
2. 2Click the map. The symbol is placed and selected.
3. 3Drag its box to move it, or drag the corner square to resize it. The Size slider sets the same value.
4. 4Set the category, colors and spin on the Style tab.

Custom tropical icons needs Professional or above; below that the switch shows a lock and opens an upgrade dialog. It is one account-wide setting with slots for Invest, Potential Tropical Cyclone, Tropical Depression, Tropical Storm, Category 1–5 and Post-Tropical. PGEN uses the TD, TS and category slots; the others replace the symbol on current storms and forecast tracks.

1. 1On the Draw tab, find Images and click Upload.
2. 2Pick a PNG, JPEG, WebP, SVG or GIF file. While it uploads the button reads Uploading….
3. 3When it finishes, the image appears as a thumbnail and its tool is on. Click the map to stamp it.
4. 4To stamp it again later, click its thumbnail, then click the map. Click a highlighted thumbnail to turn the tool off.
5. 5Select the stamped image to set its size, rotation, color and spin on the Style tab.
6. 6To delete an image from your library, click the × on its thumbnail (Remove from library) and confirm.

Images need Professional or above and a signed-in account. Below Professional, Images shows a lock and Upload opens an upgrade dialog. Files can be up to 8 MB; each one is scaled so its longest side is at most 512 pixels and stored as a PNG, so animated GIFs become still images. You can keep up to 40 images; Upload is greyed out at 40.

1. 1Under Shapes, click Rectangle, Circle, Ellipse or Triangle.
2. 2Press on the map at one corner and drag to the opposite corner. Let go to finish. Press Esc while dragging to cancel.
3. 3With the shape selected, drag its blue box to move it.
4. 4Drag the blue square at the bottom-right corner to resize it.
5. 5Drag the orange dot above the box to rotate it.

These settings appear on the Style tab for lines, arrows, polygons and shapes. New lines, arrows and polygons use a 2-pixel light blue (#3bb2d0) stroke; polygons get a matching fill at 0.2 opacity.

1. 1Select a feature and find a color setting with a Gradient button next to it, such as Fill Color.
2. 2Click Gradient. The setting expands to Color 1, Color 2, Angle and Strength.
3. 3Pick Color 1 and Color 2.
4. 4Drag Angle to set the direction of the blend.
5. 5Drag Strength to set how far across the feature the blend runs before it reaches Color 2.
6. 6To go back to one color, click Solid. The feature keeps Color 1.

1. 1Click Text, then click the map. A New Text label appears, selected.
2. 2Double-click the label to edit it. Type your text. Press Enter for a new line.
3. 3Click anywhere else on the map to finish editing. If you leave it empty, it goes back to New Text.
4. 4To move it, click it once to select it, then press on it again and drag.
5. 5Drag the blue square at its bottom-right corner to set a box size. The text wraps inside the box.
6. 6Drag the orange dot above it to rotate it.

1. 1Select the feature.
2. 2Near the bottom of the Style tab, turn on Shadow. Starting values that suit the feature are filled in.
3. 3For text, lines, polygons and shapes, pick a Shadow Type.
4. 4Adjust the color and sliders.

Fronts, stream arrows, highs and lows, hurricanes, fire, rotating storms, images and arrows get a crisp offset shadow, so they show only Shadow Color, Opacity, Distance and Angle. On all of these except arrows, the shadow’s distance grows and shrinks with the map along with the symbol.

By default every feature is anchored to the map. It moves with the map when you pan. Fronts, highs and lows, storm symbols, images and text also keep their size on the ground, so they grow when you zoom in and shrink when you zoom out. Line and outline widths stay the same in pixels.

1. 1Select a Text label, Line, Arrow, shape or image.
2. 2Near the top of the Style tab, turn on Screen Relative (tooltip: Keep size and position fixed on screen when panning/zooming).
3. 3Pan and zoom. The feature stays where it is on the screen at the same size.
4. 4Turn Screen Relative off to drop the feature back onto the map at the spot it covers now.

1. 1On the Draw tab, scroll down to the Layers list. Each row shows a small preview and the feature’s name.
2. 2Click a row to select that feature and open its Style tab.
3. 3Click Move up or Move down (the arrows on the row) to change the order. Features higher in the list draw on top.
4. 4Click × on a row to delete that feature.
5. 5Under Layer Position, choose where filled areas draw.

1. 1Type a name in Product Name, on the Draw tab or the Products tab.
2. 2Click Save New. If you aren’t signed in, the Sign in to Save Product dialog opens. The button area shows Saving... and then Saved!.
3. 3After more changes, click Update to overwrite the same product. Update appears once you have saved or loaded a product.
4. 4To open a saved map, click the Products tab and click its row. Rows read like Surface 12Z (14), where the number is the feature count; the product that is loaded now is highlighted.
5. 5To delete a product, click × on its row and confirm.

A product keeps every feature with its position, shape, style, animation settings, text box size and screen-relative position, plus the Fills behind water setting. It doesn’t keep Fills above other layers, the map view, or the data layers, bundle or workflow you drew over. Products are stored in your account, private to you, and load on any device where you sign in.

1. 1Load a layer with mean sea level pressure so you can trace the features, then open PGEN.
2. 2Click Low (L) and click the low center. Drag the corner handle until the symbol reads well at your zoom. Turn on Animate under Arrows if the map will be shown live or exported as a video.
3. 3Click High (H) and place each high the same way.
4. 4Click Cold Front. Start at the low and click southwest along the front, dragging on a point or two to curve it. Press Enter. The triangles face southeast.
5. 5Click Warm Front. Start at the low and click east along the front, then press Enter. The half-circles face north. If either front’s symbols face the wrong way, turn on Flip Symbols.
6. 6Add an Occluded front from the low to the triple point, a Stationary front where a boundary has stalled, and a Dryline across the southern Plains if there is one.
7. 7For a bolder broadcast look, select each front and raise Front Size to 4 and Spacing to 0.7, then turn on Shadow (Opacity 0.5, Distance 3).
8. 8Click Text and click beside the low. Double-click the label and type the central pressure, such as 996. Set Font Size to 28, turn on Bold, and keep the white Outline.
9. 9Name it, for example Surface analysis 12Z, and click Save New.

1. 1Open PGEN and click Polygon. Click around the outer risk area, dragging on points to round the edges, and click the first point to close it.
2. 2On the Style tab, set Fill Color to a light green such as #7FC57F, Opacity to 0.6, Stroke Color to a darker green and Stroke Width to 2. Name it Marginal.
3. 3Draw the next area inside it with Polygon, colored yellow (#F6F67F), then orange (#E6C27F) and red (#E67F7F) for higher risks. Each new area lands on top of the list, so the inner areas draw over the outer ones.
4. 4For the significant-severe area, draw another polygon. Set Opacity to 0, turn on Hatch Pattern, pick Diagonal ↗ (45°) under Hatch Style, set Stroke Color to black and Line Type to Dashed.
5. 5Under Layer Position, turn on Fills behind water for clean coastlines and lakes, or Fills above other layers if the map has radar or model data under it.
6. 6Add labels: click Text, type SLGT, turn on Background, set Background Color to the area’s color, Opacity to 0.9 and Radius to 6, and set Text Color to black.
7. 7Add a title such as Severe Weather Outlook – Thursday with Text, turn on Screen Relative and drag it to the top of the map.
8. 8Click Save New, then Download board to share the image.

1. 1Open PGEN and click Polygon. Outline the lightest band, such as 1–3 in, pressing and dragging on most points so the edges curve smoothly. Close it on the first point.
2. 2Set Fill Color to a pale blue, click Gradient, and set Color 2 a little darker, Angle to 135° and Strength to 80%. Set Opacity to 0.8.
3. 3Set Stroke Color to white and Stroke Width to 1.5 for a crisp edge.
4. 4Draw each heavier band inside the last (3–6 in, 6–12 in, 12+ in), stepping the colors from blue to purple to pink. Reshape any edge by dragging its points or the blue midpoint dots.
5. 5Under Layer Position, turn on Fills behind water so the Great Lakes and the ocean stay clear.
6. 6On the heaviest band, turn on Shadow, set Shadow Type to Inner, Opacity to 0.4 and Blur to 12 for depth.
7. 7Label each band with Text: type the amount, set Font Size to 24, turn on Bold and Background, and give the box Radius 8 and Opacity 0.75.
8. 8Add a screen-relative title box at the top, and if you have Professional or above, stamp a snowflake or station logo under Images.
9. 9Click Save New, then Download board or Export animation.

1. 1Open PGEN and click Polygon. Draw the days 1–3 cone, narrow at the storm and widening along the track, dragging points to round the end. Set Fill Color to white, Opacity to 0.4, Stroke Color to white and Stroke Width to 2.
2. 2Draw the days 4–5 part as a second polygon. Set Opacity to 0, turn on Hatch Pattern and pick Dashed ↗ (45°).
3. 3Click Line and click through each forecast position. Set Stroke Color to black, Stroke Width to 2 and Line Type to Dashed. Or use Arrow for a track with a head at the end.
4. 4Click Hurricane and click each forecast point. Set each one’s Category (TD, TS or 1–5) and Size. Turn on Shadow for depth.
5. 5Turn on Animate under Spin on any one symbol to spin them all.
6. 6Label the forecast times with Text (for example Thu 8 PM), with Background on and a dark Background Color.
7. 7With Professional or above, turn on Custom tropical icons in a hurricane’s Style tab and upload your station’s own category icons.
8. 8Click Save New. Use Export animation to capture the spinning symbols as an MP4 or GIF.