Mind the Gap : Addressing Critical Technical Issues in Strengthening NMHSs

This Technical Note is aimed primarily at professionals in National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), who are trying to improve the quality and relevance of their services to match their societies’ growing needs for meteorological and hydrological information.

At the same time, the Note serves as a useful resource for the experts and teams involved in the activities and projects that tackle various aspects of transforming hydromet services. It provides insight into some of the technical challenges that NMHSs face and suggests approaches to addressing these challenges. Why is it important to continuously improve numerical weather prediction (NWP) and what observations are needed to do this? What data should be shared with the international community and how will this sharing lead to benefits at the national level?

These are complex technical issues, which are not necessarily well understood by the staff of NMHSs and perhaps not at all by finance ministries, or by development partners or their advisors.