a specialized agency of the United Nations

WMO sponsors the World Weather Watch program, which operates networks of weather stations in all parts of the world and uses satellites and other instruments to forecast the weather and provide vital information for the advance warnings that save lives and reduce damage to property and the environment. WMO also contributes to reducing the impacts of human-induced disasters, such as those associated with chemical and nuclear accidents, forest fire and volcanic ash.

WMO originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was organized at the First International Meteorological Congress in Vienna in 1873. On October 11, 1947, representatives of 31 countries attending the Eighth Conference of Directors of IMO in Washington, D. C., endorsed the transformation of IMO into a new inter-governmental World Meteorological Organization (WMO). That transformation was completed on March 23, 1950, and the WMO became part of the United Nations the following year.

The official WMO website is http://www.wmo.int

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This page was last updated on 02/23/2017.