More the better - new members joining the World Weather Information Service

It is an encouraging start to 2009 as more and more national meteorological services joined the World Weather Information Service (WWIS). In February, the Iraqi Meteorological Organization and the Afghan Meteorological Authority participated to become the 120^th and 121^th Members of WWIS respectively. Altogether, they have added 8 places to the list of cities with official weather forecasts.

The WWIS website ( http://worldweather.wmo.int ) is the world's first and only website for official city forecasts. It has a total of seven language versions* and is managed by the Hong Kong Observatory on behalf of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Presently, 121 WMO Members supply official weather forecasts for over 1,300 cities to the website. The website also contains climatological data for the cities, which are extremely useful for travel planning.

Note*: The WWIS German-language version was launched on 23 March 2009 to supplement the English, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish and French versions.

Official weather forecasts for cities in Iraq and Afghanistan are now available
on the World Weather Information Service website (http://worldweather.wmo.int)