About this website

Introduction

This WMO project on world city forecasts is to explore the wider exchange and availability of official weather information on the Internet. In view of this, a WMO-sponsored website - World Weather Information Service (WWIS) is established as a centralized source on the Internet for media to access official weather information issued by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) efficiently and effectively. The WWIS website is developed and maintained by the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) of Hong Kong, China.

This global website presents OFFICIAL weather observations, weather forecasts and climatological information for selected cities supplied by NMHSs worldwide. The NMHSs make official weather observations in their respective countries. Links to their official weather service websites and tourism board/organization are also provided whenever available. Weather icons are shown alongside worded forecasts in this version to facilitate visual inspection.

The media are welcome to make information presented in this website available to the public. When doing so, credit to the respective NMHSs should be given.

By December 2023, WWIS provided official weather information for 3458 cities in which 3307 cities are available with forecast from 139 Members while 2216 cities are available with climatological information from 171 Members. Suggestions to enrich the contents of this website are welcome.

Introduction

Background

The Commission of Basic Systems (CBS) of World Meteorological Organization (WMO) at its Twelfth Session at Geneva, 27 November - 8 December 2000 discussed the need to strengthen the recognition of the public weather services that NMHSs provide through the setting up of a pilot project. The Commission agreed that a Collecting Center should be designated to collect weather forecasts supplied by participating NMHSs. The Collecting Center would generate an integrated product of major city forecasts around the world and make it available for use by all WMO Members for dissemination to the public and the media.

A WMO-sponsored website - WWIS is set up to display the weather information supplied by participating NMHSs. The Commission agreed that Hong Kong, China, would take the lead in further developing the above concept and act as the Collecting Center.

By February 2005, four language versions emerged viz. English, Arabic, Chinese and Portuguese. At the CBS 13^th Session at St. Petersburg, 23 February - 3 March 2005, the Commission agreed to turn the pilot project into an operational component of the Public Weather Services Programme and that the current host Members, viz. China; Hong Kong, China; Macao, China; and Oman, would continue to maintain the Chinese, English, Portuguese and Arabic versions of the WWIS website respectively. The Commission also designated Hong Kong, China to serve as the coordinator of WWIS operation in collaboration with other WMO Members.

In September 2006, Spain joined the other 4 hosts and launched the Spanish version for public access.

In January 2007, France launched the French version, making the total language versions to six.

In March 2009, Germany launched the German version, making the total language versions to seven.

In August 2009, Italy launched the Italian version, making the total language versions to eight.

In 2011, the MyWorldWeather was launched on iPhone.

In March 2011, Russian Federation launched the Russian version, making the total language versions to nine.

In December 2011, Poland launched the Polish version, making the total language versions to ten.

In January 2013, the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) launched a trial version of the MyWorldWeather on Android platform, which supports multiple languages including English, Spanish and Polish.

In March 2013, the seven languages version of MyWorldWeather app was launched on both iPhone and Android platforms.

In August 2013, a new version of MyWorldWeather app was launched on both iPhone and Android platforms. It supports nine languages, viz. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Korean, Portuguese, Polish and Spanish.

In May 2014, the HKO announces that the Data Collection or Production Centre (DCPC) has commenced operations for the World Weather Information Service.

In June, 2014, the HKO announced the launch of a newly website together with mobile site for the World Weather Information Service.

In December 2015, the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) and Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) launched the Korean version, making the total language versions to eleven.

In January 2016, a new version of MyWorldWeather app was launched on Android platform to support for Italian language.

Background

Objectives

To develop and enhance the methodologies for the international exchange of public forecasts issued by NMHSs via the Internet;
To provide a centralized source of official weather information on the Internet;
To encourage the international media and the public to make good use of official weather information provided by NMHSs; and
To enhance the visibility of NMHSs, especially those of developing countries, so as to strengthen the public recognition of the weather services they provide.

Objectives

World Weather Information Service (WWIS) Website

Climatological information and official observations.

The name and logo of participating NMHSs providing the information;
Hyperlinks to the NMHS's official websites (if available);
Hyperlinks to the Local Tourism Authority's websites (if available);
Forecasts for the next few days for selected cities including temperature range, weather in a few words and weather icons;
Past and possibly current weather; and
Climatological information and official observations.