World Meteorological Organization Observed World Meteorological Day on 23 March

23 March: World Meteorological Day

The World Meteorological Organization with its 189 Members and the worldwide meteorological community celebrate World Meteorological Day every year on 23 March around a chosen theme. 23 March is celebrated as World Meteorological Day to commemorate the entry into force of the WMO Convention in 1950 aimed at creating the organisation. In 1951 WMO was designated a specialized agency of the United Nations System.

The theme of World Meteorological Day 2011 was Climate for you. The organisation highlighted on this occasion that in the backdrop of grave risks associated with a rapidly changing climate timely climate information will increasingly be required by decision-makers and by all socio-economic sectors.

World Meteorological Day every year marks the presentation of awards for meteorological research like, The International Meteorological Organization Prize, Professor Dr. Vilho Väisälä Award and The Norbert Gerbier-Mumm International Award.

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 189 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873. WMO has been for the last six decades the UN system’s authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources. WMO facilitates provision and exchange of near-real-time standardized information from 189 National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and 35 Regional Specialized Meteorological Centres across the globe.

World Meteorological Day is celebrated on 23 March since 1961. In 1961 the theme for the day was Meteorology - general themes. There is a different theme observed on WMO every year. In 2009 the theme was Weather, climate and the air we breathe whereas in 2008 it was Observing our planet for a better future.