A round-up of recent WMO activities in a variety of fields >> More

World Climate Conference-3

Climate prediction and information for decision-making
Geneva, Switzerland
31 August – 4 September 2009
Geneva International Conference Centre

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WMO El Niño/La Niña Update

Taking the Pacific basin as a whole, near-neutral El Niño-Southern Oscillation conditions have prevailed since mid-year. Any slight increased risk that an El Niño might develop late in 2008 has receded, as surface waters remain only marginally warmer than normal in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific and no strongly organized large-scale subsurface warming has emerged. >> More

Public benefits of the Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project in south-eastern Africa

The Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP), conducted by WMO in south-eastern Africa from November 2006 to November 2007, tested a new concept for capacity-building of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in developing and Least Developed Countries to improve warning services to communities. The project received considerable support and interest, even before conclusion of the demonstration phase. What caused this interest? Maybe the answer is that it produced positive results quickly at a relatively low cost, demonstrating a practical way of supporting NMHSs of Least Developed Countries in applying modern forecasting techniques not easily accessible to them, in order to provide real benefit to their communities. >> More

Third Joint WMO-IOC Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) Workshop on Advances in Marine Climatology (CLIMAR-III)

Marine climatology is increasingly recognized as vital to improving our characterization and understanding of climate change. The numerical models that we rely on to predict changes to our climate must be able to model the evolution of past climate, so research to develop long-term and accurate historical datasets has never been more important. >> More PDF

WMO and Oman co-sponsor International Conference on Indian Ocean Tropical Cyclones and Climate Change

The past two years have seen several high-impact tropical cyclone events in the Indian Ocean. These include Tropical Cyclone Gonu, which made landfall in Oman in 2007, Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh in 2007 and Cyclone Nargis, responsible for the loss of more than 20 000 lives in Myanmar in 2008. These events have brought about a focus on the potential influence of climate change on tropical cyclone activity in the Indian Ocean. >> More

Awards and prizes

International Meteorological Organization (IMO) Prize

WMO Research Award for Young Scientists

Professor Dr Vilho Vaisala Awards