All ECMWF forecast data and products are developed for and distributed to the ECMWF Member and Co-operating States. Members of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) also receive Centre's forecast products via the Global Telecommunication System (GTS) and can access them on the ECMWF web site for their duty of issuing early warnings for severe weather.
Most National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) around the world use ECMWF’s products for their own official duty, in particular to give early warning of potentially damaging severe weather. They have access to Centre's forecast products on the ECMWF web. More than 120 NMHSs have registered for this access. They also receive products via the GTS which links all NMHSs worldwide. In addition, the ECMWF Member States have decided, in December 2009, to allow them a licenced access to all ECMWF digital products for their official duty.
This was in particular emphasised in an article by P.J. Webster et al. published in a recent issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society - BAMS Vol. 91 No. 11. This article shows how extended range probabilistic forecasts of Ganges and Brahmaputra floods in Bangladesh, using ECMWF data as input, allowed the NMHS of Bangladesh to issue early warnings. On that basis, emergency managers of Bangladesh could act preventatively, in particular by arranging the evacuation of population.
Forecasts of severe weather events are vital to warn authorities and the public, and to allow appropriate mitigating action to be taken. Early warnings, made a few days ahead of potential events, are of significant benefit, giving additional time to allow contingency plans to be put into place. ECMWF contributes to this responsibility of NMHSs worldwide.
