Public Weather Services (PWS)

Scope

The Public Weather Services (PWS) strengthens the capacities and skills of Members by helping them to meet the needs of their users. This is accomplished by assisting National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) to:

  • deliver weather forecasts and warnings routinely to the public and other users for the protection of life, livelihoods and property;
  • deliver warnings and information on climate extremes to government authorities in order to aid them in their decision-making process; and
  • engage in education, awareness and preparedness activities to help citizens make the best use of forecasts and warning information.
A weather forecast is displayed on a computer screen.
World Weather Information Service (WWIS)
This global website presents official weather observations, weather forecasts and climatological information for selected cities supplied by National Meteorological & Hydrological Services (NMHSs) worldwide.The NMHSs make official weather observations in their respective countries. Links to their official weather service websites and tourism board/organization are also provided whenever available. Weather icons are shown alongside worded forecasts in this version to facilitate visual inspection.

Objectives

The main objectives of the Public Weather Services are to enable the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to:

  • implement the WMO Strategy for service delivery and its implementation plan;
  • engage in demonstration projects and collaborative activities with other National Meteorological and Hydrological Services;
  • establish and promote best Public Weather Service practices;
  • improve or initiate impact-based forecasting and warning services;
  • assess and demonstrate the social and economic benefits of the services provided by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services; and
  • develop multiple circulation channels for rapid dissemination of weather forecasts and warnings such as television, radio, mobile devices and social media, in order to reach as many people as possible.

Structure

The Public Weather Service (PWS) is a programme of the Weather and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Department of WMO. It is one of the Open Programme Area Groups (OPAGs) of the WMO Technical Commission for Basic Systems (CBS).  The work of the Programme is coordinated through the Implementation Coordination Team on PWS (ICT/PWS) and two Expert Teams (ETs):

  • Expert Team on Services and Products Innovation and Improvement (ET/SPII); and
  • Expert Team on Impact-based Forecasting and Warning Services (ET/IMPACT).

Public Weather Service National Focal Points support the implementation of the Programme's activities in their country or territory.

Components


WMO Strategy for Service Delivery

The goal of the WMO Strategy for Service Delivery assists National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in raising their products and service for users and customers. The Strategy includes an Implementation Plan with a flexible methodology to assist Members in evaluate their current service delivery practices. It also provide high-level guidance for developing more detailed methods and tools to enable Members to improve their service delivery process. See the WMO Strategy for service delivery and its implementation plan.

Enabling NMHSs to deliver impact-based forecast and warnings services

Governments and disaster managers require information on likely impacts of hazardous weather in order to make sound decisions for the protection of life and livelihoods. The Public Weather Service  is assisting NMHSs to develop the necessary capacities to provide impact-based forecasting and risk-based warning through: developing new skills in NMHSs and other involved institutions, developing effective partnerships among a diverse group of stakeholders providing the necessary information for impact-based forecasting, cross-training staff of NMHSs and emergency responders, and developing operational pilot projects as a basis of enabling national and regional capacities to institute these practices.  

Assisting NMHSs assess and demonstrate socioeconomic benefits of the services they provide

In order for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) to gain public credibility and government support, it is necessary for them to clearly demonstrate the benefits they bring to society through their public weather service activities. This is on of the key actions in the Madrid Conference statement and action plan.

The Public Weather Service developed the Socioeconomic Benefits of Weather, Climate and Water Services website as a resource for tools and case studies for use by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services for this purpose. The programme has also published the WMO/World Bank book titled Valuing Weather and Climate: Economic Assessment of Meteorological and Hydrological Services in May 2015 which  provides approaches for the assessement and demonstration of socioeconomic beenfits of public weather services.  

Public Weather Service Competency Framework

In order to ensure that National Meteorological and Hydrological Services develop the necessary competencies to effectively delivery public weather services, WMO developed the Public Weather Service Competency Framework. The framework provides a basis for developing guidelines and practical training and assessment schemes. Currently being incorporated into WMO Manual and Standards as “Recommended Practices”, it will allow clear and unambiguous competency tests to be applied to the work of forecasters.

Application of new technologies

The rapid development of technologies affects every link in the chain that brings weather information to the user. The increase in Internet speed and the development of mobile telecommunications provide opportunities for improved dissemination of weather information, but this has proven a significant challenge for many National Meteorological and Hydrological Services. Another technology being exploited is the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) format for warning messages, which enables easier automation of dissemination of weather warnings. There is also emphasis on strengthening the “traditional” means for communicating public weather service information, through radio and television.  

Assisting National Meteorological and Hydrological Services deal with Big data

A man is sitting at a desk in front of a computer screen.

Big data, for example, satellite imagery and model outputs, big opportunity data that is messages on social media or from non-meteorological instruments such as mobile phones, and crowd-sourced data that is data, services, ideas or content from a large group of people or an online community present technological challenges in the meteorological context. Public Weather Services are considering how best to utilise big data for improved services. These considerations include visualization systems for forecasters to make sense of the vast amounts of information now available.  

Enabling NMHSs address key user sectors in order to remain relevant

The traditional sectors of focus for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services have been aviation, marine, agriculture and, more lately, emergency management. There are now new sectors, such as land transportation, water resource management, energy, health and service provision in megacities, each with different requirements. National Meteorological and Hydrological Services  are also under increasing pressure to provide environmental data and information as well as on sustainability so that policy-makers and governments can take action to mitigate climate change.

By identifying current needs, anticipating future needs and responding to these with targeted public weather services, National Meteorological and Hydrological Services will remain relevant to user communities.

Background

The push towards the privatization of utilities and identification of alternate sources of revenues for publicly funded services accelerated in the latter half of the 20th Century. Government supported National Meteorological Services were no exception; they were pressured to become more cost-effective by generating greater revenues through “specialized” services. In addition, some faced stiff competition from private sector entities offering similar services. 

In 1987, a consensus emerged from discussion in the Tenth World Meteorological Congress that all National Meteorological Services could gain through a greater sharing of experiences and expertise in the basic operations of services geared to the public. The Congress also recognized the need to develop closer relationships with public users of weather services in order to find ways to better meet their requirements. Further discussion led to the approval of the proposed Public Weather Services Progamme by the Eleventh World Meteorological Congress in 1991 as part of the World Weather Watch. Since, the Programme has focused on helping National Meteorological Services to understand why users need their services and how they use them in their decision-making so that National Meteorological Services can tailor services to fit user needs.