Weather data for all

Disaster risk reduction officials planning emergency responses now have the option to consult a new online international weather, climate and water system operated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The system contains raw weather data and is aimed at professionals who have some familiarity with it, says Stephen Foreman, head of data representation, metadata and monitoring for the new WMO tool. “Weather information [collated by WMO from the various national meteorological services] at the moment is shared by a closed club – we all seem to be working in our silos.”

The new resource is designed to help professionals working on climate change forecasts; speed up collation and interpretation of global weather data; and provide information on when weather information for any global location will be available. Researchers and experts on food security, water management, disaster risk reduction and health could benefit by exploiting the new tool.

Separate servers and data collection centres in China, Japan and Germany give the system greater robustness – and the network of these global portals is set to grow.