World Meteorological Day 2026; March 23rd.

 FORUM: "Observing today; Protecting tomorrow." World Meteorological Day 2026. This year, we are highlighting the vital role that young people and communities play as resilience builders. Around the world, individuals and organizations contribute every day to Earth observations, from monitoring weather and water to supporting climate awareness and early warnings. We also highlight the work of observation stations from different countries. Why do we need observations?; How does the observing system work?; Closing the gap in observations; Protecting Tomorrow; What’s the weather going to be? It’s most asked questions. We take it for granted that we can find the answer in a matter of seconds at the touch of a mobile phone screen or flick of the television switch. But behind each forecast are millions of observations, crunched through thousands of processors in the extraordinary and unique global network coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Wherever you may be – on land, at sea or in the air – the forecasts you are using are reliant on the free and open exchange of observational data orchestrated by WMO. From satellites orbiting Earth, to weather balloons released into the atmosphere, to ocean buoys and ships riding the waves, to remote stations, meteorological observations underpin everything from our daily routines to multi-billion dollar decisions. The immense and often invisible observing and prediction system coordinated by WMO's the backbone of our economies. It is the central nervous system for early warnings, which have saved many millions of lives. This World Meteorological Day therefore celebrates the work of the WMO community in observing our Earth to protect communities today and build resilience for tomorrow. Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #WorldMetDay, #Meteorology, #climateresilience, #weather, #Meteo, #observingtodayprotectingtomorrow, #23March, #Youth, #Communities, #resiliencebuilders

EVENTS: On March 23rd, the celebration of the World Meteorological Day 2026 will be held under the theme "Observing today; Protecting tomorrow. On this occasion, we’re bringing you the WMO Global State Of Climate 2025, featuring a new indicator; 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡’𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. Learn more about the Main ceremony, Register to participate and Stay tuned!

"Observing today; Protecting tomorrow." 

 Main ceremony at WMO headquarters, Salle Obasi, 15:00 CET.

WMO invites diplomatic representatives, staff, partners, United Nations agencies, students and other guests to join the official ceremony. It will be livestreamed in six UN official languages to allow maximum engagement with WMO Members and the staff of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services.

Moderator: Nandita Surendran, Chief of WMO Global Communications Observing Today

Makoto Suwa, Astronaut, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency [video message]

Keynote presentation from Professor Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General, WMO

Abdulla Al Mandous, President, WMO [video message]
Argentine observing station Esperanza, Antarctica, on the importance of observations in remote Polar regions [live video link up]
Alexia Barrier, round-the-world ocean racer and advocate; Martin Kramp, OceanOPS Technical Coordinator, WMO [live video link up]
Launch of WMO State of the Global Climate 2025 report

Video message from UN Secretary-General António Guterres
Setting the scene by Claire Ransom, Associate Scientific Officer, WMO
Presentation of key findings by Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General, WMO
Protecting Tomorrow

Theo Wellington, Youth Coordinator, WMO
Video from Regional Youth focal points, WMO
Questions and statements from the floor

17:00 - Reception hosted by WMO Staff Association

EXHIBITS: Observing the Future.
An interactive exhibition led by the WMO Youth team.

Organized in collaboration with Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW), the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF) and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), this exhibition aims to connect participants with observation stations from diverse regions.

Station displays: Visuals highlighting the work of observation stations from different countries.
Station connections: QR codes enable short, pre-recorded video exchanges.
Station ambassadors: On-site ambassadors facilitate engagement and discussion.

ACTIVITIES: Join the WMD 2026 activities!

Ghana: The Ghana Meteorological Awareness Month; Ghana celebrates this year's Meteorological Awareness Month with the theme, “Observing Today, Protecting Tomorrow.” Learn more

Pakistan: Agrometeorology without borders: Dr. Adnan Arshad, from Pakistan, with his PhD student Eltayyab al Hasaan, from Sudan, researching grassland restoration and improving production by using advanced meteorology equipment to train youth to help us observe today and protect tomorrow.

Concerning car traffic and circulation: There is a lot of traffic with smoke from cars in Cantt (Lahore, Pakistan). It's a problem that affects school timings and people's health. 

Our research applies a "Rain to Drain" approach, following rainfall from the moment it lands through each stage of the drainage process. This requires a network of hyperlocal weather stations to capture rainfall data at the street scale, soil moisture probes placed through the depth of the rain gardens to record infiltration and storage behaviour, and flow monitors in the sewer network to detect surcharge events. Access to this data is not limited to researchers. Along Broadway, lecterns and posters give residents and visitors a way to see results for themselves. Co-designed with Western Primary School, they make SuDS visible in the street rather than hidden infrastructure. The posters are also interactive, providing both access to live data and opportunities for residents to contribute observations through PuddleWatch, a tool that records when and where water appears. Dr. Adnan Arshad and his team, in collaboration with PODA-Pakistan and the Pakistan Meteorological Department, are building the technical capacity of rural youth engaged in agriculture. The initiative involves installing mobile automatic weather stations at multiple locations to collect site-specific data and provide real-time updates. This enables young farmers to make informed decisions for planning their field operations and management practices - especially critical in the rainfed region of Punjab, Pakistan, where rainfall is the sole source of water for agriculture.

United Kingdom: This image shows How the Water Flows, a collaborative mural created as part of the Water Data for People project and now on display at Wybers Wood School in Grimsby. Designed around the school’s SuDS planter, the mural animates this everyday feature, using it as a focal point to bring together ideas about weather, water, and the local environment. It emerged through a series of workshops and creative sessions involving pupils, researchers, teachers, and artist Emma Garness, who worked together to explore local hydrology, drainage, and environmental change.
Led by the University of Hull, Water Data for People uses creative methods to help communities engage with local hydrological data and consider how it can shape future places and decisions. The project builds on the DIG Surface Water Resilience Project, a partnership between North East Lincolnshire Council, City of Doncaster Council, Anglian Water, and Yorkshire Water. Both projects are funded by Defra through the £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programmes, managed by the Environment Agency. Reflecting the ideas and experiences of the pupils, the mural shows how knowledge of rainfall, flooding, water use, and environmental processes connects directly to everyday life and to the spaces around the school. Guided by Garness’s distinctive approach to environmental themes and community identity, these insights were brought together in a vibrant piece of visual storytelling.

SPAIN: Understanding the weather, the CLIMATE and ACTING on it. - Students from the Antonio Machado Primary School are making a meteorological observation at the weather station developed as part of an educational project that received an award on the European Union's Climate Education Day in October 2025.

KENYA: Analysis of Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS) and Urban Flash Flood Vulnerability: A Case Study of the March 2026 Nairobi Precipitation Event. A multi-spectral satellite RGB composite image showing significant convective activity over the Kenyan highlands and the central Rift Valley. Convective Intensity: The bright, textured blue and white bubbles scattered across the centre of the map represent cumulonimbus clouds - the primary drivers of heavy localized rainfall. Nairobi Impact: Nairobi is situated in the central region currently obscured by dense cloud cover. The presence of these deep convective cells suggests high potential for intense, short-duration downpours. In an urban environment like Nairobi, this type of concentrated rainfall often leads to rapid flash flooding due to saturated soils and strained drainage infrastructure. Moisture Influx: The brownish-orange background indicates the warmer land surface, while the varying shades of blue/cyan highlight moisture-rich air masses moving across the region, creating the "perfect storm" for the flooding events seen in early March 2026.

SWITZERLAND: Appreciation of the Night falls, Lausane, Switzerland.

Statement of the United Nations Secretary General on World Meteorological Day 2026.

On this World Meteorological Day, we are reminded that foresight saves lives. Climate chaos is rewriting the rules of weather, with record heat, longer droughts, rising seas and ever more frequent and extreme disasters. Accurate, trusted science is our first line of defence. The World Meteorological Organization and national services help keep us safe by weaving a global web of data, from land, sea, air and space – turning measurements into forecasts, and forecasts into early warnings. Yet the global observing system is under strain, with critical gaps, especially in least developed countries and small island developing States. This year’s theme, Observing Today, Protecting Tomorrow, is a call to action. Governments, development banks and the private sector must scale up support for our global observing backbone, from surface stations to satellites, and ensure data is shared openly and equitably. And we must accelerate Early Warnings for All so that, by 2027, every person is protected by life-saving alerts. Investing in observation pays many times over – strengthening peace, security, resilience and sustainable development. By observing today, we can protect tomorrow – for people, for planet, for prosperity, and for generations to come.

United Nations Secretary-General.

 Statement of the United Nations Secretary-General of the WMO on the World Meteorological Day 2026; March 23rd.

Dear members, colleagues, friends, happy World Meteorological Day. There are many UN International Days. So why does this one matter?, It's because today we celebrate the WMO community and its role in saving lives and serving society. Let's take a closer look. One of the most frequently asked questions is what's the weather going to be. People take it for granted that we can find the answer on their mobile phones and televisions.Behind each forecast are millions of observations which are processed in a unique international network coordinated by the WMO. WMO global observing system underpins decisions worth billions from aviation routing to flat protection from energy planning to health management from crop planting to infrastructure investments. It generates forecast and early warnings that save many thousands of lives. So I am delighted that the theme of the this year world meteorological day is observing today protecting tomorrow because when we observe today we don't just predict the weather we protect tomorrow's people tomorrow's planet. And that is why the young people of today are so important because they are the guardians of the future. We need your energy, your innovation, your skills. Colleagues and friends, we live in an era of great technological advances, but we must level the playing field and ensure that nobody is left behind. We must close the gaps in data and observations and we must remember that artificial intelligence depends on human intelligence. On this World Meteorological Day, I would therefore like to pay tribute to the many thousands of humans in the WMO community, the observers in remote and lonely locations, the meteorologist who release weather balloons twice a day every day, the hydrologist who monitored rivers at dawn, the forecasters who stay awake through the night. The oceanographers who brave the waves. The engineers who repair stations after a storm. The satellite technicians who maintain our eyes in the sky. The climatologists who help us understand the past and prepare for the future. The computer processors who crunch and share the data. We are more than just weather forecasters. Together we provide a global public service for the global public good. Together we are observing today and protecting tomorrow. I thank you all and once again I wish you a happy world meteorological day.

Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the WMO.

PUBLICATION: Launch of the  State of the Global Climate 2025.

The WMO’s State of the Global Climate report 2025 confirms that 2015-2025 are the hottest 11-years on record, and that 2025 was the second or third hottest year on record, at about 1.43 °C above the 1850-1900 average. Extreme events around the world, including intense heat, heavy rainfall and tropical cyclones, caused disruption and devastation and highlighted the vulnerability of our inter-connected economies and societies. The ocean continues to warm and absorb carbon dioxide. It has been absorbing the equivalent of about eighteen times the annual human energy use each year for the past two decades. Annual sea ice extent in the Arctic was at or near a record low, Antarctic sea ice extent was the third lowest on record, and glacier melt continued unabated, according to the report. For the first time, the report includes the Earth’s energy imbalance as one of the key climate indicators. The  report confirms that the years 2015-2025 was the hottest according to 11 years on record; The Earth’s energy imbalance is highest in sixty five-year record; The oceans has been absorbing about eighteen times the annual human energy use each year for the past two decades; The current Extreme weather impacts millions and costs billions; Get the Full Report; Read the Press Release and latest information on Extreme Weather!

CAMPAIGN MATERIALS: Join the campaign 2026 "Observing today; Protecting tomorrow.". The Campaign Assets, Posters, videos, and other outreach materials for World Meteorological Day can be downloaded in high-resolution format from our Trello Board. Additional resources will be made available. Poster in Arabic, in Chinese, in Russian, In French, in English, In Spanish.

 LIVESTREAM: Presentation of the Report entitled the State of the Global Climate 2025. The WMO uses datasets developed and maintained by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and the United Kingdom’s Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit in the United Kingdom. It also uses reanalysis datasets from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts and its Copernicus Climate Change Service, and the Japan Meteorological Agency. This method combines millions of meteorological and marine observations, including from satellites, with models to produce a complete reanalysis of the atmosphere. The combination of observations with models makes it possible to estimate temperatures at any time and in any place across the globe, even in data-sparse areas such as the polar regions. Internationally recognized datasets are used for all other key climate indicators. Full details are available in the State of the Global Climate report .

Videos by NASA, UNEP, WMO
Data Visualization