World Weather Watch

The World Weather Watch is the central program of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations’ agency for cooperation among national weather bureaus, founded in 1950. The Fourth World Meteorological Congress approved the idea of the program in 1963, and the WMO, which has 188 member countries and territories, subsequently established the World Weather Watch to make an integrated worldwide weather-forecasting system available.

The World Weather Watch includes the Tropical Cyclone Program, the Antarctic Activities Program, an Emergency Response Activities Program for environmental emergencies, and the Instruments and Methods of Observation Program to ensure the quality of the observations that are vital for weather forecasting and climate monitoring. Through the World Weather Watch, a system is in place for countries around the world to obtain daily weather forecasts. The core components of the World Weather Watch—the Global Observatory System (GOS), the Global Telecommunications System (GTS), and the Global Data-Processing and Forecasting System (GDPFS)—enable the World Weather Watch to provide basic meteorological data to the WMO and other related international organizations.

The GOS allows for observing, documenting, and communicating data about the weather and climate for the creation of forecast and warning services. Monitoring the climate and environment is a priority of the WMO, and the GOS is critical to the effective and efficient operations of the WMO. Long-term objectives of the GOS include the standardization of observation practices and the optimization of global observation systems.

The GTS consists of land and satellite telecommunication links that connect meteorological telecommunication centers. The GTS provides efficient and reliable communication service among the three World Meteorological Centers in Melbourne, Moscow, and Washington, and the 15 Regional Telecommunication Hubs that make up the Main Telecommunication Network. The six Regional Meteorological Telecommunication Networks, covering Africa; Asia; South America, North America, Central America, and the Caribbean; the south–west Pacific; and Europe, ensure the collection and distribution of data to members of the WMO. The National Meteorological Telecommunication Networks make it possible for the National Meteorological Centers to collect data and to receive and disseminate weather information on a national level.

The primary aim of the GDPFS is to prepare and provide meteorological analyses to members in the most cost-effective manner possible. The GDPFS is organized to implement functions at international, regional, and national levels through the World Meteorological Centers, Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers, and National Meteorological Centers. Real-time functions include preprocessing and postprocessing of data and the preparation of forecast products. Non-real-time functions include long-term storage of data and the preparation of products for climate-related analysis.

Increasingly, the World Weather Watch provides support for developing international programs related to global climate and other environmental issues, and sustainable development. The entire continent of Africa has only 1,150 World Weather Watch stations—one per 26,000 sq. km (10,038 sq. mi.)—even though the continent’s land mass is as large as North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan put together. 

This represents coverage eight times lower than the WMO’s recommended minimum level. The changing climate of Africa necessitates greater capacity building on the part of institutions prepared to address the likely crises that lie ahead. The World Weather Watch is vital in developing that capacity.

The World Weather Watch and its parent organization, the WMO, through the development of a permanent global weather data network, have proven critical to defining global warming as a given. As a consequence, the political and policymaking debates about climate change and its very real consequences, such as those facing Africa, have moved to a new arena. Although the World Weather Watch cannot compel individual governments to act on its findings, it has framed the issue of climate change on a truly global scale.