WMO Guidelines on Multi-hazard Impact-based Forecast and Warning Services

Improving the understanding of the potential impacts of severe hydrometeorological events poses a challenge to NMHSs and their partner agencies, particularly disaster reduction and civil protection agencies (DRCPAs). These Guidelines establish a road map that identifies the various milestones from weather forecasts and warnings to multi-hazard impact-based forecast and warning services. For completeness, these Guidelines also describe the ultimate step of forecasting actual impacts, although it is recognized that this is a highly sophisticated exercise, requiring strong collaboration with partner agencies and significant research into exposure and vulnerability. For many WMO Members this step will not be the responsibility of the NMHS but rather that of the relevant DRCPA and other partners.