Preparing and publishing forecasts

Prepare the product

Open Forecasts or Bulletins in the staff portal and select the relevant product. Enter the issue time, validity period and content. The product editor labels its time inputs in UTC. Check the intended station or coverage and the source of any copied material.

Save and preview

Choose Save draft to retain your work. A draft is not a public issue. Use Validate and preview to see the server-validated result, then review wording, dates and coverage before publishing.

If validation fails, correct the indicated fields and preview again. Changing the input requires a new review of the preview.

Publish and check

Use the publication action only when authorised. Verify the product on the GMS public website, including its issue time, validity and text. Saving and publication are separate actions.

Correct an issue

Open the saved product, edit the draft and review the new preview. Existing published content remains tied to its published revision until you publish the update. If another editor changes the record, reload and reconcile your work.

Withdraw and retrieve

The editor provides Withdraw publication with confirmation. Withdrawal removes the product from the public website while retaining its revision history. Saved and published revision PDFs are available where offered; check which revision you are downloading.

Aviation is a separate workflow

The aviation composer stores working METAR/SPECI/TAF drafts. Do not interpret a draft, PDF or preview as an operational transmission. Continue the accepted submission process until the replacement route has been verified.