UN's top weatherman visits Hong Kong Observatory
UN meteorology agency's chief says accurate forecasts will become increasingly important as global weather becomes ever more extreme
Even the world's top weatherman concedes that he cannot do much about the weather, except to get his forecasts right.
"Most people are unhappy not about bad weather disrupting their time at work, but their time at play," said David Grimes, president of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), who is in Hong Kong for celebrations marking the 130th anniversary of its Observatory.
But predicting the weather is nothing like gazing into a crystal ball, especially with extreme climate conditions becoming more common in recent years, the veteran weatherman says.
"There are fewer days with rain, but more intensive rainstorms. We've seen more exceptional weather," said Grimes, a Canadian who in 2011 was elected to head the Geneva-based UN agency for a four-year term.
"In North America, we had Hurricane Sandy having a direct strike on New York City. The disaster raised the issue of the vulnerability of cities under extreme weather."
While observatories could usually recognise a typhoon long before it made landfall, the tracking of its movements remained a challenge, he said.
In order to increase accuracy and plan ahead of disasters, governments and observatories around the world were investing in new technologies and sharing more information, he said.
