WMO coordinates and organizes international research programmes to enhance the ability of its Members to improve weather, climate, water and environmental observations, prediction, service delivery and scientific assessments of regional and global environmental conditions.
Such research has achieved improvements in the quality and accuracy of weather, climate and environmental forecasting and prediction that have benefited many. New sources of atmospheric observations, faster supercomputers and advances in weather science together have revolutionized weather forecasting in the latter part of the 20th century. On the global scale, we can today predict out to six days ahead as accurately as we could do for four days 20 years ago. This means society has much more advance warning of weather hazards than before, allowing people to prepare and, thereby, limit the loss of lives and property. International research is critical to the ability of global society to cope with the effects of severe weather, climate extremes and air-quality issues, and to develop strategies for adaptation to climate change and variability.
