World Meteorological Organization News

The Deutscher Wetterdienst, the German Meteorological Service, inaugurated its new headquarters in Offenbach am Main today in the presence of

Fast on the heels of Gustav, three tropical cyclones, Hanna, Ike and Josephine, are currently active in the North Atlantic and Caribbean.

The Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Rajendra Pachauri, has been re-elected for a second term.

The International Organizing Committee for the World Climate Conference-3 is holding its second meeting at WMO headquarters this week from 3 to 5 September.

The ability to detect the location of possible nuclear explosions was significantly enhanced following the entry into operation

The latest issue of WCRP’s latest electronic newsletter, is published today.

Speaking at the ceremony in Geneva yesterday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Secretary-General Michel Jarraud pledged the continued support of WMO and the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services of its 188 Members, ...

WMO issues bulletins containing information on the state of the ozone layer in the Antarctic at approximately two-week intervals from August to November.

On 18 August, after heavy monsoon rains, a dam on the Saptakoshi (Kosi) river in Nepal burst, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless and triggering flooding in the neighbouring Indian state of Bihar, where at least 55 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced as the river changed its course.

A Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) weather measurement system was officially launched at the MeteoSwiss weather forecasting headquarters in Payerne, yesterday. The high-tech instrument is the only one of its kind in the world able to provide continuous data on the vertical distribution of humidity in the atmosphere up to an altitude of 10 km. It works by firing a laser beam vertically into the sky 30 times a second, then measuring the “echo” (light reflected back from different layers in the atmosphere) to build instantaneous vertical profiles of humidity.

Hurricane Gaustav is currently in the Caribbean located some 120 km south-southeast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) celebrates its 20th anniversary in Geneva on 31 August in conjunction with the opening of its 29th plenary session (31 August-4 September 2008).

The International Workshop on Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia is being held from 25 to 30 August 2008 at the University of Dhaka (Bangladesh). Its ultimate aim is an Agriculture Mitigation and Adaptation Framework for Climate Change in South Asia.

World Water Week takes place this week (17-23 August) at the Stockholm International Fairs and Congress Center, Sweden, under the theme “Progress and prospects on water: for a clean and healthy world”.

Tropical storm Nuri formed in the western North Pacific, and is now located about 1 000 km east of Manila, Philippines.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) latest crop report released yesterday, US corn production is forecast at 312.1 million tones—a 4.9 % increase from last month’s estimate due to higher yields and increased harvested area.

Three people were killed and at least nine were reported injured when a freak tornado tore through towns in northern France, yesterday.

HE Maurice Adriaens, Minister of Traffic and Communications of Netherlands Antilles, paid an official visit to the WMO Secretariat today and met with the Deputy Secretary-General and a number of high-ranking WMO staff.

A tropical depression in the north-east South China Sea is currently moving slowly west-north-west. It is very close to the south and south-east coasts of China and the Philippines and is potentially dangerous to those areas.