News

A detailed report on the state of the European climate has confirmed that 2019 was the warmest year on record, continuing a trend that means 11 of the 12 warmest years in Europe have occurred since 2000. The report was released by the EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service implemented by ECMWF.

ECMWF upgrades its forecasting system on a regular basis, and one such upgrade is planned for 30 June 2020. Director of Research Andy Brown will explain how the changes will improve forecasts in two webinars on 21 and 22 April 2020.

ECMWF is organising a series of seminars given by external experts to explore aspects of the use of machine learning in weather prediction and climate studies. The first will take place on 28 April and will be live-streamed.

ECMWF brought together over 100 experts in a virtual workshop from 10 to 12 March 2020 to discuss how the latest research on a type of air flow known as warm conveyor belts can help to improve weather forecasts.

One aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a reduction in the aircraft-based observations available to weather prediction centres at the start of forecasts. At ECMWF, aircraft reports are second only to satellite data in their impact on forecasts.

This year, World Meteorological Day on 23 March and World Water Day share the theme of climate and water. In a message to mark the day, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said the world faces challenges over floods, droughts and access to clean supplies.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and ECMWF launched a new web-based interface on 17 March 2020 to help monitor the availability and quality of global meteorological observations.

The EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) implemented by ECMWF has developed a Climate Data Store that lets anyone discover the world’s past, present and projected climate.

Improvements in aircraft weather observation numbers, quality and metadata are possible if numerical weather prediction centres work with the WMO, EUMETNET and the aviation sector, according to experts who met at ECMWF in February.

The warm conveyor belt workshop from 10 to 12 March 2020 will be virtual for external participants as part of measures to minimise potential exposure to the coronavirus (COVID-19). Registration has been re-opened to enable more people to participate remotely.