World Meteorological Organization Working together in weather, climate and water Report by the President of RA IV EC – LXII Doc 2.4 WMO

New Working Structure WMO The RA IV (26 Members) has adopted a new Working Structure (in the XV-RA Session Nassau, Bahamas 24 April-1 May 2009) based on a Mgt Group the Hurricane Committee and Task Teams - Aviation TT - Strategic and Operational Planning TT - WIGOS implementation TT - Disasters Risk Reduction TT The President, in coordination with WMO Office for North America, Central America and the Caribbean verify that activities are performed in accordance with the established Terms of Reference.

Priorities for Region IV Capacity building Social and economical benefits of meteorological and hydrological services Meet the qualification requirements for aeronautical meteorological personnel (WMO-No. 258, Suppl. 1) - Quality Management System - Forecasters to be degree-level - Certification

Training and workshops Hurricane Forecasting and Public Weather Services (Miami, first quarter of 2009) Development of a Quality Assurance System to enhance the Aeronautical Meteorological Service (Montego Bay, Jamaica, November 2009 Spain Trust Fund for Ibero-american countries supported different courses in 2009 and 2010 (AWS, Data processing, climate change prevention and mitigation, management of meteorological and Hydrological services, flood management, seasonal forecast, statistic forecast tools, use of satellite products from ECMWF, etc.) Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems and DRR (San José, Costa Rica, March 2010)

Assistance to NMHSs Central American Project on Multi-Hazard Early Warning System, financed by World Bank (Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua) WMO Regional Haiti Task Team (7 AWS network by mid-2010, 2 EMWIN systems, training of local staff. Coordination with UN Agencies in the Flash Appeal for 1 M USD to assist meteorological activities in Haiti)

Implementation of regional aspects of WMO Programmes Operational Early Warning Pilot projects with coordination of NMHSs and Disaster Risk Management Agencies. XV Hurricane Committee All NMCs in RA IV have access to WAFS (satellite dissemination) and to selected GDPFS products (Internet) WCRP Methods and and systems to predict extremes at different temporal and spatial scales through GEWEX and CLIVAR

Implementation of regional aspects of WMO Programmes 3 Climate Outlooks per year produced by Central American Climate Outlook Forum Seasonal precipitation outlook for the Caribbean produced by Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) and the Central American Regional Committee of Hydrological Ressources (CRRH)

Implementation of regional aspects of WMO Programmes Following XV- RA IV Session and during the intersessional period: - RBSN increased by 4 stations to a total of 539 surface stations (percentage of SYNOP and TEMP reports remain stable at around 81% and 88 % respectively) - RBCN increased by 2 stations to a total of 318 stations (percentage of CLIMAT reports remain stable at around 83%)

Operational AMDAR Programmes in RA IV include USA and Canada. RA IV actively working towards developping a new operational programme including Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico JCOMM workshop in New Orleans (April, 2010) approved the concept for WMO-IOC Regional Marine Instrument Centres (RMIC) Implementation of regional aspects of WMO Programmes

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