World Climate Services Programme Climate Applications and Services

Global Producing Centres for Long Range Forecasts

In 2006, WMO has begun a process to designate centres making global seasonal forecasts as WMO Global Producing Centres (GPCs) for Long Range Forecasts, as an integral part of its Global Data-Processing and Forecasting System (GDPFS).  Through this designation process, GPCs adhere to certain well-defined standards – aiding consistency and usability of output:

• a fixed forecast production cycle
• a standard set of forecast products
• WMO-defined verification standards (for retrospective forecasts)

A comprehensive set of standard verification measures, with which to communicate the skill of forecasts, has also been defined (the WMO Standard Verification System for Long-Range Forecasts – SVSLRF). 

The following are GPC products provided as minimum requirement:

• Predictions for averages, accumulations, or frequencies over 1-month periods or longer; typically, anomalies in 3-month-averaged quantities is the standard format for seasonal forecasts. Forecasts are usually expressed probabilistically
• Lead time: between 0 and 4 months
• Issue frequency: monthly or at least quarterly
• Delivery: graphical images on GPC website and/or digital data for download
• Variables: 2m temperature, precipitation, sea-surface temperature (SST), MSLP, 500hPa height, 850hPa temperature
• Long-term forecast skill assessments, using measures defined by the SVSLRF
  
  The following are the officially designated WMO Global Producing Centres (GPCs) of Long Range Forecasts:

In addition, WMO has also designated the following Lead Centres:

Other major centres providing global seasonal forecasts:

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