Fact sheets

Fact sheets

For use of the information media. Not an official record

TROPICAL CYCLONES: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (January 2010)

Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are tropical cyclones with maximum sustained wind speed exceeding 119 km/h near their centres, and every year responsible of thousands of victims. Although loss of lives from tropical cyclones has significantly decreased over the last decades, economic losses have increased substantially. The decrease in fatalities is, at a large extent, attributed to the improvement in the tropical cyclones forecasting and early warning systems. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Tropical Cyclone Programme is aimed to establish national and regionally coordinated systems to ensure that the loss of lives and damage caused by tropical cyclones are reduced to a minimum. >> full text

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Recent developments in weather services to aviation (July 2009)

Aircraft operations are dependent on the weather. Planning of flight routes and development of infrastructure relies heavily on climate information.   43% of aircraft accidents occur during operations in adverse weather.  Three quarters of air traffic delays in high density regions are related to weather. Accurate weather forecasts and warnings are indeed vital for safe and regular air transport, in ever more crowded skies.. >> full text

- World Climate Conference-3 fact sheet series (30 June 2009)

Seven fact sheets highlight examples from key socio-eocnomic sectors -- disaster risk reduction, health, water managment, food managment, transport and tourism, environment and energy -- of a range of pratical applications for climate information.

1. Climate information for reducing disaster risk
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2. Climate information for protecting human health
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3. Climate information for managing water needs
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4. Climate information for securing food
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5. Climate information for transport and tourism
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6. Climate information for a healthy environment
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7. Climate information for sustainable energy
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The full WCC-3 media kit is available on the WCC-3 Website.

- Weather, water and climate information provide early warning that save lives (June 2009)

Every year, disasters related to meteorological, hydrological and climate hazards cause significant losses of life. Although natural hazards cannot be prevented, early warning of the impending events can significantly reduce the death and destruction associated with them. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has been working with its international partners and the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of its 188 Members to integrate early warning systems into emergency management and response. >> full text

- Meteorological data are critical for combating forest fires (October 2008)

According to the recent 4th Assessment Report of the IPCC wildland fires are likely to increase in both frequency and intensity. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of its Members provide weather and climate data that are vital for the prevention, mitigation and monitoring of such fires and continue to enhance operational weather systems for fire danger rating. WMO is developing operational guidelines for fire weather agrometeorology which will be available by 2009. >>full text

- Storm Naming in the Atlantic Ocean region (September 2008)

The practice of naming storms began years ago in order to help in the quick identification of tropical cyclones in warning messages because names are presumed to be far easier to remember than numbers and technical terms. Many agree that appending names to storms makes it easier for the media to report on cyclones, heightens interest in warnings and increases community preparedness. >> full text

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