Communication of weather information – National Weather Service role – single voice principle – European cooperation Eric Petermann, Executive Director

Roles of weather services Dissemination and outreach User communities Produce warnings Produce products & services Numerical Weather Prediction Models Cooperate within European NWP Operate national observing systems Cooperate with European observing systems Constitute national Climate datasets Cooperate with European Climate community Produce climate services Dissemination and outreach

Roles of weather services User communities Operate national observing systems Cooperate with European observing systems

Roles of weather services User communities Numerical Weather Prediction Models Operate national observing systems Constitute national Climate datasets Produce climate services Dissemination and outreach

Roles of weather services Dissemination and outreach User communities Produce products & services Numerical Weather Prediction Models Cooperate within European NWP

Roles of weather services http://www.ilmateenistus.ee/ilm/prognoosid/hoiatused/ Dissemination and outreach User communities Produce warnings

Principles and new challenges A vision statement that can be valid for all National Weather Services : Helping your country to be weather and climate prepared Forecasts or products have little or no value if users don’t know what they mean to them Simple transposition from threshold to warning is insufficient 120 km/h gusts ? 40mm of rain in 12 hours ? The concept of impact-based warnings has appeared Communicate on the probable impacts as much as on (if not more than) the phenomenon itself Different audience = different message Met Service is part of an overall decision-making process Impacts being the result of multiple causes, criteria for issuing warnings are becoming multidimensional

Impact-based warnings and services I/B warnings cannot be simple transpositions of forecasts They translate a forecast situation into a risk assessment Multi-hazard means that we use a common framework (or system) regardless of the hazard The same severe weather phenomenon can lead to flooding, coastal submersion, landslides, health issues, disruption of critical infrastructure, etc… I/B warnings require further understanding and additional information On the end-users’ own processes Knowledge about vulnerabilities to severe weather In the digital age, information comes from multiple sources How credible are these sources ? What is the end-user’s quality requirement ? How are these sources assessed ?

Authoritativeness of warnings Authoritativeness is a key principle Warnings are about safety of life and property, a State duty A publicly owned and regulated entity like a National Meteo/Hydro Service will avoid conflicts of interest Single-voice means there are no potentially conflicting stories coming from multiple sources (who may have vested interests) and which may end up blurring the picture Full control of the value chain from science to operational sustainability to producing services is key To consolidating authoritativeness (single-voice principle) To credibility and trust Ensuring operational delivery is an integral part of National Met/Hydro Services’ DNA. Regulators should build on such an asset.

European Meteorological Infrastructure World Meteorological Organisation - Europe ECMWF : global Numerical Weather Prediction National meteorological (and hydro) services ECOMET : data provision, interface with private sector Limited Area Modelling consortia e.g. HIRLAM, ALADIN EUMETNET : Cooperation in observations, forecasting, climate EUMETSAT : operates meteorological satellites (low orbit and geostationnary)

31 EUMETNET Members (2018) EIG (Economic Interests Grouping) members Austria Belgium Croatia Cyprus Czech Rep. Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Luxemburg Malta Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden The FYROM Switzerland United Kingdom 6 Cooperating met services : Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Israel, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania.

Cooperation in Europe Meteoalarm is the most visible example of Europe-wide cooperation on warnings

Cooperation in Europe

Contact Details Eric Petermann Executive Director GIE/EIG EUMETNET European Meteorological Services' Network www.eumetnet.eu   GIE EUMETNET Secretariat c/o L’Institut Royal Météorologique de Belgique Avenue Circulaire 3 1180 Bruxelles, Belgique Registered Number 0818.801.249 - RPM Bruxelles Tel:      +32 (0)2 373 05 18 Fax:     +32 (0)2 890 98 58 Email: eric.petermann@eumetnet.eu