Thursday, 23rd March heralded the 2023 World Meteorological Day. The day officially recognises the formation of the World Meteorological Organization on that date in 1950. The day goes beyond simply recognising the organization’s formation - it highlights the contribution that meteorological and hydrological services made to the safety and prosperity of human societies around the world, as well as looking forward and addressing the challenges we all face today. This year’s topic is “The Future of Weather, Climate and Water across Generations”.

In 2022, a global community celebrated the Climathon. Over 56 cities from around the world hosted micro-events to address climate change and weather adaptation. The aim was to enable new ideas to flow, be developed, discussed and perhaps lead to a greener and more sustainable future for us all.

Globally, about 300 million hectares of plantation forests, and 900 million hectares of natural forests are used for wood production. Combined, they supply nearly two billion cubic meters of industrial wood (for example, for construction, paper, and packaging) and another two billion cubic meters of fuelwood for household heating and cooking.

Farming is constantly changing, adapting and creating new opportunities. Farmers from around the world and adopting new technologies to create a sustainable industry tuned for today’s climate and weather

The weather we experience can change minute by minute. We can experience a rain downpour, shelter under a tree for a few seconds and later be feeling the sunshine on our faces. Climate is different - it can be viewed as the seemingly impossible to understand interdependence between diverse elements such as global weather patterns, atmospheric conditions, sea levels, natural geography, human intervention and social impact. There is however one single, simple benchmark for our climate that is used more than any other - temperature.  

The seemingly mystical properties of the tornado have proved to be both fascinating and frightening. In 1939, a fictional ‘twister’ transported the young Judy Garland from her monochromatic mid-west life into a surreal and colorful world of wizards and witches

The wind around us is a seemingly invisible hand that can shape our planet, lives and society. Even though we cannot see the wind, we can certainly see the results of its work - from helping to dry our clothes, to spreading populations around our planet.

What can be more familiar to us than the wind and weather around us? We experience it in all its forms on a daily basis, and are familiar with weather maps and the notion of accurate, long term weather forecasting giving us detailed information of all the constituent parts.  

There can barely be any weather phenomenon more common, yet also more changeable than clouds

This may seem a rather bizarre question. The ability for the weather to change our moods is well known. Some individuals prefer warm and sunny weather, and there are those individuals known as pluviophiles, who can find comfort, peace and joy during rainy days.Weather watchers around the world can find the sheer variability of our weather patterns fascinating.