Hong Kong Observatory hosts training workshop on severe weather forecasting and warning services

15 July 2011

A World Meteorological Organization (WMO) training workshop on severe weather forecasting and warning services was successfully held at the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) from July 4 to today (July 15). The hosting of this training workshop was part of the Observatory's ongoing contributions to the international meteorological community.

Co-organised by the HKO and the WMO, the training workshop was one of the activities under the Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project, which aims to demonstrate the usefulness of numerical weather prediction products in improving severe weather forecasting services and enhancing the public weather services of developing countries. Representatives from national meteorological services and disaster management authorities of five Asian countries, namely Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, attended the workshop. Lectures were given by experts from the WMO, China, Japan, Kenya, Vietnam and Hong Kong. In addition to attending lectures, the trainees also participated in various practical sessions and visited a local radio station to learn about collaboration between meteorological services and the media.

The Deputy Chief Officer of the Department of Meteorology at Cambodia's Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, Ms Chann Mony Bin, said during the event, "The workshop is very useful and provides an excellent platform for the participants to learn how to acquire and interpret the latest numerical weather prediction products."

The Deputy Director of the National Disaster Management Office at Laos' Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Vilayphong Sisomvang, said, "The workshop is resourceful and provides me with many new ideas about communication and coordination among national disaster management offices, meteorological services and the media."

The Chief of the WMO's Public Weather Services Division, Ms Haleh Kootval, thanked the HKO for its excellent arrangement of the workshop. "The Observatory is one of the advanced numerical weather prediction centres in Asia and has a lot of experience in providing outstanding public weather services including weather services for television and the media. It sets a role model for the meteorological community," she said.

Figure 1: Senior Scientific Officer of the Hong Kong Observatory Mr Lee Lap-shun (sixth from right); the Chief of the Public Weather Services Division of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Ms Haleh Kootval (seventh from left); and the Chief of the WMOs Global Data Processing and Forecasting Systems Division, Mr Peter Chen (first right), together with participants and lecturers attending the training workshop.

Figure 2: Participants visit Radio Television Hong Kong.