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Spotlight – March 2026

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23 March 2026 Géraldine BLONDEAU new

World Meteorological Day 2026: Observing today, protecting tomorrow

On 23 March 2026, EUMETNET joins the global meteorological community in marking World Meteorological Day, under the theme “Observing today, protecting tomorrow.”

Across Europe, recent extreme weather events have reinforced the importance of reliable observations in protecting lives, infrastructure, and the environment. Accurate forecasts, early warnings and climate information all depend on sustained, high-quality observations — and on strong cooperation between countries.

EUMETNET brings together 33 National Meteorological to coordinate observation activities across national borders. Through its observation programmes, EUMETNET supports the collection and sharing of data from ground-level automatic weather stations, weather radars monitoring heavy rainfall and storms, aircraft providing wind and temperature measurements during routine flights, instruments profiling the atmosphere, and marine systems observing conditions at sea. These observations are exchanged across Europe, helping meteorologists detect rapidly developing weather situations and improve forecast accuracy.

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is transforming the meteorological landscape, enabling the development of advanced predictive models and decision support tools. High-quality, timely observations are the foundation upon which AI-driven innovations are built, providing the essential data needed to train algorithms, drive the models or validate their outputs. As AI continues to evolve, the value of reliable observation networks becomes even more pronounced, ensuring that technological progress remains grounded in real-world evidence and supports faster, smarter responses to weather and climate challenges.

Building on this strong cross-national meteorological services partnership, EUMETNET is actively working with private companies such as Netatmo, Windborne, and Oshen to explore innovative approaches for complementing our core observation networks. These partnerships allow us to harness new technologies and crowdsourced data, broadening the scope and resolution of our meteorological insights. By integrating supplementary data sources from the private sector, we aim to enhance the robustness and responsiveness of our collective weather monitoring capabilities, supporting more comprehensive forecast and warning services across Europe.

Through the 10,000 ships initiative, we are building new partnerships with commercial shipping operators to be our eyes over the oceans. By equipping ships with standardised meteorological instruments, this collaborative effort will significantly increase the volume of high-quality marine observations available, improve safety at sea, minimise the environmental impact of shipping transport, and support climate monitoring. These partnerships exemplify how public-private collaboration can drive innovation and resilience in the face of evolving weather and climate challenges.

At the same time, EUMETNET is strengthening the accessibility of observation data through MeteoGate, a new shared access point that enables weather and climate data to be more easily discovered and used. MeteoGate supports the exchange of high value datasets across Europe, helping public authorities, researchers, and service providers access trusted meteorological information in support of safety, resilience and innovation. With MeteoGate in service, today’s observations can be fully utilised to address tomorrow’s needs.

On World Meteorological Day, EUMETNET recognises the essential role of observations and the people behind them, and reaffirms its commitment to cooperation and innovation — observing today to help protect tomorrow.

Spotlight – January 2026

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21 January 2026 Géraldine BLONDEAU new

What are EUMETCAL Hackathons?

What a EUMETCAL Hackathon Really Is

Accelerating high-quality training for Europe’s meteorological community

Each year, EUMETCAL brings together meteorologists, trainers, instructional designers and technical experts from across Europe to co-develop training that no single organisation could build alone.

The EUMETCAL Hackathon is a short, intensive co-development sprint—typically four to five days—designed to turn shared expertise into working learning prototypes, fast.

These events are not competitions. They are production engines: structured, collaborative, and focused on creating reusable, operationally relevant training aligned with WMO competencies.

What Happens During a Hackathon

Hackathon teams work face-to-face in multidisciplinary groups to:

– Define concrete learning goals based on WMO knowledge and skills
– Select authentic operational cases contributed by participants
– Design hands-on learning activities that mirror forecast-desk decision-making
– Build functional e-learning prototypes with real data, interactions and feedback
– Improve quality through continuous peer review

By the end of the week, teams present a working prototype—often representing 50–75% of a full module, a level of progress that would normally take months.

Why EUMETCAL Uses Hackathons

Demand for modern, high-quality online training is growing faster than traditional development models can handle. Hackathons address this bottleneck by providing:

– Protected time for focused collaboration
– Cross-organisational ownership and trust
– Rapid, visible progress instead of long asynchronous cycles
– A repeatable, quality-assured development workflow
– Compared to traditional working groups, hackathons consistently deliver more output, higher engagement, and better alignment with operational reality.

AI as an Accelerator — Not a Substitute

Generative AI is used deliberately during hackathons to accelerate drafting, ideation and design. Crucially, its use is always supervised within multidisciplinary teams, ensuring scientific accuracy and pedagogical quality.

AI supports well-established concepts, text creation, activity design and feedback generation. Expert judgment remains essential for new, complex or niche meteorological topics.

EUMETCAL is also developing a custom GPT trained on vetted content, enabling safe, multilingual coaching and practice—an intentional step toward scalable, high-quality training support.

What Comes Out of a Hackathon

Hackathon cycles result in:

– Self-paced online modules designed for active learning
– Real operational cases and decision-making tasks
– Targeted feedback supporting forecast reasoning
– Reusable materials aligned with WMO standards
– A stronger, more connected European training community

After the hackathon, instructional designers lead refinement, quality assurance and final production before release on the EUMETCAL platform.

The result: higher-quality training, developed faster, with less duplication—and a collaborative ecosystem that is stronger than the sum of its parts.

Focus of the month – October 2025

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8 October 2025 Géraldine BLONDEAU new

The Need to Protect “Our” Radio Frequencies

We often take for granted the seamless operation of our meteorological infrastructure: when, as national meteorological institutes, we launch radiosondes, these devices communicate via radio links to our ground stations; our precipitation radars scan the atmosphere for rainfall and hazardous weather phenomena; and our meteorological satellites observe the globe, transmitting their data via radio links and ground stations to our meteorologists. For a long time, we had every reason to do so. However, since 2003, this situation has changed dramatically.

At the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2023, a decision was made to authorise RLAN equipment (such as Wi-Fi) to use, under specific conditions, the same frequencies as our C-band radars—the most widely used type of precipitation radar in Europe. In theory, this should have been manageable, but in practice, much of the equipment that entered the market did not comply with these specific conditions. As a result, since 2006, interference with our C-band radars has become a serious and persistent problem.

As a meteorological community, we have learnt that protecting the radio frequencies which enable us to inform the public and professional partners—such as the aviation sector—about dangerous weather conditions must be a top priority. At the European level, EUMETSAT and EUMETNET have initiated programmes to safeguard radio frequencies, and the WMO has established an expert team on frequency management.

During the most recent World Radiocommunication Conference (2023), we, as the meteorological community, were well prepared and succeeded in safeguarding the frequencies essential to our work. However, technological development is advancing rapidly, and new threats are emerging on the horizon.

Some examples include:

– A new type of C-band radar (using solid-state transmitters) may be even more susceptible to interference from RLAN equipment. Further research is needed, and additional restrictions on such equipment may be required.

– The introduction of new security scanners could cause further interference with our radars in both the X and C bands.

– Detect and Avoid Systems on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may jeopardise the operation of our C-band radars.

– The mobile industry poses a broad threat to all frequencies we use, both through remote sensing from the ground and from space.

Through the efforts of the WMO, EUMETSAT, EUMETNET (via the EUMETFreq programme), and our national radio frequency authorities, we strive to inform and influence decision-makers, and to prepare ourselves for the next World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027.

Focus of the month – September 2025

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24 September 2025 Géraldine BLONDEAU new

Heatwaves – An Often Underestimated Creeping Danger

The meteorological summer has just begun, and as school holidays roll out across Europe, people are eagerly looking forward to their well-earned vacation season.

However, in parallel with the intensifying effects of climate change, this period is also marked by severe weather events, some of which may not be immediately recognised as dangerous. One such creeping danger is heatwaves. High temperatures can be exhausting, bothersome, and can easily ruin a day if one is unprepared, especially for those who struggle to find places to cool down.

For others, however, heatwaves can become life-threatening, a reality often underestimated or poorly understood by the general public.

By early July, Europe had already experienced two intense heatwave phases this year, mainly affecting Western, Southern, and Central Europe. June recorded an average monthly temperature of 20.49 °C in Western Europe – the highest on record – with national temperature records exceeding 46°C on the Iberian Peninsula.

To raise public awareness, MeteoAlarm, the pan-European Early Warning Dissemination System, is supporting National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in delivering consistent and harmonised warnings. It provides a platform to exchange best practices for effective public communication during severe weather events.

Since weather hazards do not stop at national borders, there is a well-recognised need to enhance cross-border coordination in issuing warnings. After all, it should not matter to the user whether they are travelling from country A to B or even C – ideally, the warning information should be presented consistently, clearly, and in a harmonised manner.

Due to their prolonged duration and broad geographic extent, heatwaves can challenge applications that visualise the current warning situation. The danger lies in the potential for shorter-lived, more localised hazards, such as thunderstorms, to be visually overshadowed by these longer-lasting phenomena, making it harder for users to interpret the current situation and take timely action.

To address this, MeteoAlarm is also improving its visualisation tools. In the near future, the user interface will allow the selection between short-term and long-term hazards, offering a more accurate, real-time understanding of current weather risks across Europe.

As of this article’s publication, a third heatwave is unfolding, now gripping Southeastern Europe and extending into neighbouring regions, as illustrated in the image below, taken from the visualisation on the MeteoAlarm website.

Focus of the month – May 2025

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7 May 2025 Géraldine BLONDEAU new

The provision of the Cross-Border Convection Forecast started again on the 30th of April

Anyone who flies frequently will be familiar with the situation: You are on a plane and the pilot informs you that your flight is delayed due to a thunderstorm at your destination airport. This scenario is repeated countless times every year at airports across Europe and is not only annoying for travellers, but also for airlines and air traffic control, as the skies over Europe are among the busiest airspaces in the world.

To give airlines, air traffic controllers and other aviation stakeholders an early warning of thunderstorms, EUROCONTROL has been coordinating with EUMETNET and has set up a cross-border thunderstorm forecast provided by the European MET ANSPs.

What began in 2018 with a spatially limited test forecast for some western European countries, has grown into a well-established Europe-wide forecast from Portugal and Ireland in the west to Romania and Cyprus in the south-east. The so-called Cross-Border Convection Forecast (CBCF) is a manually produced collaborative and harmonized forecast that synthesizes the experience and expertise of 25 contributing MET ANSPs. Convection, the process responsible for thunderstorm clouds, is forecasted for five consecutive time intervals for the current and the following day. Each agency generates polygons for its designated airspace, and forecasters collaborate with the neighbouring agencies at specified timeslots and update the charts if necessary to ensure that the forecast is up-to-date.

The CBCF procedure aids Air Traffic Controllers by highlighting areas using a special risk matrix, taking the expected extent and probability of occurrence into account. EUROCONTROL Network Manager uses this information to coordinate with impacted Air Traffic Control Centres (ACCs) across Europe and implement mitigation measures to minimise flight delays and improve aircraft safety.

In 2025, the CBCF forecast season started on the 30th of April. EUROCONTROL Network Manager, EUMETNET and participating MET ANSPs are all committed to ensuring MET expertise during the whole process and deepening their collaboration in the coming years. This mission is in line with the introduction of modern, so-called System-Wide Information Management Meteorological Services, supporting the implementation of the European Air Traffic Management Master Plan.

Focus of the month – April 2025

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16 April 2025 Géraldine BLONDEAU new

Empowering Meteorologists – Together
The Success Story behind EUMETCAL!

Curious how EUMETCAL is building training that helps EUMETNET’s Members meet WMO Competency Standards and strengthen their capacity in weather and climate services? Our new video takes you behind the scenes of the EUMETCAL Programme—a collaborative initiative that supports National Meteorological Services with innovative, high-quality training. From hands-on hackathons and cutting-edge AI tools to a vibrant community of trainers and experts, EUMETCAL empowers meteorologists to grow together. Watch the video to get inspired and learn more about the EUMETCAL Programme and its impacts on the EUMETNET community!

See here for the video:

Aviation Forecasting

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9 March 2025 Cerjak jef new

Why do we need aviation forecasting?

Aviation forecasting in meteorology is essential for several key reasons. First and foremost, it ensures safety by helping pilots avoid dangerous weather conditions including turbulence, icing, and thunderstorms. This is crucial for protecting passengers and crew during flights. In addition to safety, accurate weather forecasts improve operational efficiency. They allow pilots to choose fuel-efficient routes and optimal altitudes, which can lower costs and reduce the environmental impact of flying.

Real-time weather data helps airlines make informed decisions on flight schedules and operations and minimize delays. Moreover, aviation forecasting enhances passenger comfort by enabling airlines to avoid rough flights caused by adverse weather. It also plays a vital role in managing air traffic, as it provides information that helps control the flow of aircraft during varying weather conditions.

Overall, advanced technologies such as satellite monitoring and artificial intelligence have greatly improved aviation weather forecasting, making air travel safer, more efficient, and more reliable.

How does EUMETNET contribute to aviation forecasting?

Harmonised weather information enables better decision-making to ensure flights in Europe are as safe and efficient as possible.

Within the EUMETNET Aviation Support Programme (ASP), we coordinate activities of the European Meteorological Air Navigation Service Providers (MET ANSPs), including the development and operational provision of harmonised weather information and collaborative weather services. The latter includes two collaborative aviation forecasts, namely the pan-European Cross Border Summer Convection Forecast (CBCF) and the harmonised, colour-coded General Aviation Forecast (eGAFOR) for central and south-eastern Europe.

The ASP also facilitates discussions among European Meteorological Air Navigation Service Providers (MET ANSPs) about developments of aeronautical meteorological services to respond to stakeholder needs and changes in regulations and technologies. Furthermore, the ASP supports the integration of quality-assured aviation forecasting information and expertise into the Air Traffic Management (ATM) decision-making systems and encourages innovation in aviation forecasting and knowledge sharing between European MET ANSPs.

Who’s leading this EUMETNET activity?

The Aviation Support Programme is managed by the Aviation Programme Manager and Aviation Expert at the EUMETNET Secretariat.

Aviation Coordinator: Mihály Szűcs
Email address: mihaly.szucs[at]eumetnet.eu

Aviation Expert: Tiina Yllasjarvi
Email address: tiina.yllasjarvi[at]eumetnet.eu

The Cross-Border Convection Forecast Module is managed by the National Meteorological Service (NMS) of Germany (DWD)
Email address: cbcf.contact[at]eumetnet.eu

Module Manager: Benedikt März (DWD)
Email address: Benedikt.März[at]dwd.de

The eGAFOR Module is managed by Croatia Control (CCL)
Module Manager: Stjepko Jančijev (CCL)
Email address:stjepko.jancijev[at]crocontrol.hr

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eGAFOR

CBCF – Cross-Border Convection Forecast

Artificial Intelligence

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Why do we explore Artificial Intelligence in meteorology?

Recent rapid developments based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are changing the landscape of future meteorological applications, particularly meteorological modelling and weather predictions. AI’s ability to process and analyse vast amounts of meteorological data with unprecedented speed and accuracy enables the identification of subtle patterns and correlations that traditional methods might overlook. This leads to more precise weather predictions, especially for complex events such as hurricanes and severe storms. AI models are computationally efficient, allowing for faster and more frequent forecasts, which is essential for providing up-to-the-minute weather updates. The technology excels at integrating diverse data sources, including satellite imagery and sensor data, enhancing both short-term forecasts and long-term climate projections. AI also enables the creation of personalised weather predictions tailored to specific industries and individuals. Furthermore, it empowers researchers to conduct advanced weather simulations and climate modelling at unprecedented scales. By harnessing AI in meteorology, we can achieve more accurate, timely, and personalised weather forecasts, which are vital for public safety, economic planning, and adapting to the challenges posed by climate change.
National Meteorological Services (NMSs) around the world need to adjust to a new operating landscape, which offers both opportunities and risks.

How does EUMETNET contribute to AI applications in meteorology?

NMSs possess unique strengths in developing and employing insight into physical processes. EUMETNET has established a programme on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Weather, Climate, and Environmental Applications (E-AI) to combine these strengths with AI/ML capabilities. The E-AI programme aims to help European NMSs collaborate, innovate, and employ new AI/ML techniques for weather, climate, and environmental applications.

The E-AI programme is a collaborative initiative that unites experts from National Meteorological Services (NMSs) across Europe, as well as experts from EUMETSAT and ECMWF, to jointly work on applying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to weather, climate, and environmental applications.

Who’s leading this EUMETNET activity?

The E-AI Programme is led by the National Meteorological Service (NMS) of Germany (DWD)

E-AI Programme Manager: Roland Potthast (DWD)
Email address: roland.potthast[at]eumetnet.eu

E-AI Programme Coordination: Marek Jacob (DWD)
Email address: marek.jacob[at]eumetnet.eu

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Structure of the E-AI programme

Data Curation

Automatic Pollen Monitoring

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Cerjak jef new

Why do we need automatic pollen monitoring?

Allergies and asthma resulting from pollen and fungal spores affect between 15 and 40% of the European population and cost an estimated €50-150 billion/year in related health costs. Air pollution and extreme weather can further exacerbate allergies. Together with other environmental elements, these factors are thought to have played a role in the growth of allergies over the past few decades. Furthermore, a wide range of fungal spores are plant pathogens and likewise cause billions of Euros of damage each year. If detected early, this information can help farmers better manage fungicide applications, thus reducing costs and environmental damage.
Most bioaerosol monitoring networks are based on manual observations. These suffer from poor time resolution and long delays before data becomes available. Newer automatic instruments can provide information to end-users in real time. Such information, and the enhanced forecasts it enables, is vastly improving the lives of allergy and asthma sufferers as well as precision agriculture and forestry.

How does EUMETNET contribute to automatic pollen monitoring?

The EUMETNET AutoPollen programme aims to grow the European real-time pollen and fungal spore detection network and, together with stakeholders, develop products and services that meet people’s specific needs whether they be allergy sufferers, researchers, forecasters, or agriculturalists.

The programme unites experts from different scientific disciplines to tackle challenges throughout the entire process, from data collection to end-user products. One of its key objectives is to establish European standards for the automatic monitoring of pollen and fungal spores. The programme also aims to develop a site certification process, expand the existing network of monitoring stations, and provide guidance for implementing new automatic systems. The AutoPollen programme uses algorithms to compare and identify pollen, thereby improving real-time data collection and analysis. The programme also places a strong emphasis on stakeholder engagement, collaborating with end users to design bespoke products and services while encouraging multidisciplinary experts to share knowledge amongst themselves. By focusing on these areas, the AutoPollen programme aims to create a robust and standardised European network for real-time bioaerosol monitoring, ultimately benefiting allergy sufferers and researchers alike.

Who’s leading this EUMETNET activity?

The AutoPollen programme is led by the National Meteorological Service (NMS) of Switzerland (MeteoSwiss).

Programme Manager: Fiona Tummon (MeteoSwiss)
Scientific Coordinator: Marie-Pierre Meurville (MeteoSwiss)

Email address: autopollen[at]eumetnet.eu

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Participants and collaborations

GNSS Water Vapour Observations

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Why do we need GNSS Water Vapour Observations?

Water vapour plays a pivotal role in atmospheric processes, making its accurate measurement and distribution essential for both weather forecasting and climate monitoring. This invisible gas is fundamental for the formation of clouds and precipitation that directly impact our daily weather. Indeed, about half of the energy driving atmospheric processes originates from the latent heat released when water vapour condenses into liquid water droplets. Water vapour is also the greenhouse gas with the largest impact on the Earth’s surface radiation balance. Despite its importance, water vapour has not been the subject of comprehensive observations.
The radio waves emitted by satellites within the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) are highly sensitive to atmospheric conditions, causing them to experience delays and bending in their travel path. Among the various atmospheric constituents, water vapour has a particularly significant impact on these signals. This impact can be exploited to obtain valuable additional information on the water vapour content of the atmosphere.

How does EUMETNET contribute to GNSS Water Vapour Observations?

The EUMETNET GNSS Water Vapour programme (E-GVap) leverages GNSS technology, including the well-known GPS, to provide information about atmospheric water vapour content, thus addressing the gap in water vapour observations. By using data from ground-based GNSS receivers that interact with orbiting satellites, E-GVap enhances our understanding of water vapour distribution in the atmosphere and, therefore, improves weather and climate model predictions.

The E-GVap programme collects data from ground-based, high-quality GNSS receivers—primarily owned by geodetic institutions. They were originally installed for precise positioning. The Zenith Total Delay (ZTD) is estimated from the received satellite signals, which implicitly include information about the integrated water vapour in the atmosphere. The ZTDs are then forwarded to E-GVap, which distributes them for meteorological use in near real-time and conducts quality monitoring. The ZTDs serve as direct input to weather forecast models, alongside numerous other types of observations, enhancing forecast accuracy. In addition, from the ZTD one can derive integrated water vapour, which is invaluable for on-duty weather forecasters, as this integration of GNSS data into meteorological practices significantly improves our ability to predict weather patterns and understand atmospheric dynamics.

Who’s leading this EUMETNET activity?

The E-GVap Programme is led by the National Meteorological Service (NMS) of Denmark (DMI) in partnership with the NMSs of the UK (Met Office) and the Netherlands (KNMI).

Programme manager: Henrik Vedel, DMI
Email address: henrik.vedel[at]eumetnet.eu