Since becoming a World Meteorological Centre (WMC) in May 2017, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) has substantially increased the amount of weather prediction data it makes available free of charge to WMO Members. The additional data enables a more comprehensive view of atmospheric conditions as predicted by ECMWF, including near-surface weather conditions, and will help users make better assessments of weather-related risks out to day 10.
Registered national meteorological and hydrological services (NMHSs) have been able to access the new data since 2 July 2018. Additional fields are available for both probabilistic and deterministic forecasts. Users can now assess the probability of more than 1 mm and 5 mm precipitation in 24-hour periods out to 10 days ahead. This information can be complemented with precipitation information based on the high-resolution forecast that is now available at 6-hour intervals. They can also access 6-day forecasts of 2-metre temperature and 10-metre wind.
All forecasts of weather variables are now provided at 6- or 12-hour time steps instead of 24-hour time steps.
The new products also include additional ocean wave forecast fields (peak wave period and mean zero-crossing wave period), with all wave forecast products provided at 3- or 6-hour time steps.
Together, these changes help to provide forecasters in the NMHSs of WMO Members with the information they need to carry out their operational activities.
For more information visit the ECMWF web page: https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/wmo-and-acmad-datasets
