The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by most of the nations of Europe. It is based at three sites: Shinfield Park, Reading, United Kingdom; Bologna, Italy; and Bonn, Germany. It operates one of the largest supercomputer complexes in Europe and the world's largest archive of numerical weather prediction data.
A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while those using mathematical models and knowledge to prepare daily weather forecasts are called weather forecasters or operational meteorologists.
Tropical cyclone warnings and watches are alerts issued by national weather forecasting bodies to coastal areas threatened by the imminent approach of a tropical cyclone of tropical storm or hurricane intensity. They are notices to the local population and civil authorities to make appropriate preparation for the cyclone, including evacuation of vulnerable areas where necessary. It is important that interests throughout the area of an alert make preparations to protect life and property, and do not disregard it on the strength of the detailed forecast track.
HIRLAM, the High Resolution Limited Area Model, is a Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) forecast system developed by the international HIRLAM programme.
Météo-France is the official French meteorological administration, also offering services to Andorra and Monaco. It has the powers of the state and can exercise them in relation to meteorology. Météo-France is in charge of observing, studying, and forecasting weather and monitoring snowpack. The organization also issues weather warnings for the Metropole and the overseas territories. Météo-France is also in charge of recording and predicting the climate.
The Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium is a Belgian federal institute engaged in scientific research in the field of meteorology. The RMI depends on the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO). The institute is a member of the World Meteorological Organization, of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, of EUMETSAT, and of the EIG Eumetnet.
The National Severe Weather Warning Service is a service provided by the Met Office in the United Kingdom. The purpose of this service is to warn the public and emergency responders of severe or hazardous weather which has the potential to cause danger to life or widespread disruption. This allows emergency responders to put plans into place to help protect the public and also allowing the public to make necessary preparations.
EUMETNET is a network of 33 European National Meteorological Services based in Brussels, Belgium. It exists to provide a framework to organise co-operative programmes between the members in fields of meteorology, data processing and forecasting products.
A weather warning generally refers to an alert issued by a meteorological agency to warn citizens of approaching dangerous weather. A weather watch, on the other hand, typically refers to an alert issued to indicate that conditions are favorable for the development of dangerous weather patterns, although the dangerous weather conditions themselves are not currently present.
The Central Institution for Meteorology and Geodynamics is the national meteorological and geophysical service of Austria.
The European Climate Assessment and Dataset (ECA&D) is a database of daily meteorological station observations across Europe and is gradually being extended to countries in the Middle East and North Africa. ECA&D has attained the status of Regional Climate Centre for high-resolution observation data in World Meteorological Organization Region VI.
The Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service is a public entity for meteorology, hydrology and air quality in Croatia.
Weather system naming in Europe follows several multinational schemes under the EUMETNET framework. On the north Atlantic coast, the United Kingdom's Met Office, in collaboration with its Irish counterpart Met Éireann and, since 2019, its Dutch counterpart the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), decided to introduce a storm naming system following the St Jude's day storm on 27–28 October 2013 which caused 17 deaths in Europe and the 2013–14 Atlantic winter storms in Europe to give a single, authoritative naming system to prevent confusion with the media and public using different names for the same storms. The first European windstorm to be named was Abigail on 10 November 2015. The definitive list is combined from suggestions from the three countries.
The 2017–2018 European windstorm season was the third instance of seasonal European windstorm naming. France, Spain and Portugal took part in winter storm naming for the first time this season.
The 2019–20 European windstorm season was the fifth instance of seasonal European windstorm naming in Europe. This is the first season in which the Netherlands participates, joining Ireland's and the United Kingdom's meteorological agencies. The new season's storm names were released on 6 September 2019. In July 2019, it was announced that storm seasons would run from 1 September 2019 to 1 September 2020. The Portuguese, Spanish and French meteorological agencies again collaborated too, joined by the Belgian meteorological agency.
In late June and late July 2019 there were two temporally distinct European heat waves, which set all-time high temperature records in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
The 2020–2021 European windstorm season was the sixth instance of seasonal European windstorm naming in Europe. This is the second season in which the Netherlands participates, joining Ireland's and the United Kingdom's meteorological agencies. The new season's storm names were released on 1 September 2020. Storms that occur up until 31 August 2021 will be included in this season. The Portuguese, Spanish, and French meteorological agencies will again collaborate too, joined by the Belgian meteorological agency.
The 2021–22 European windstorm season was the seventh instance of seasonal European windstorm naming in Europe. This was the third season in which the Netherlands participated, alongside the meteorological agencies of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The season's storm names were released on 1 September 2021. Storms that occurred up until 31 August 2022 were included in this season. The Portuguese, Spanish, French and Belgian meteorological agencies collaborated again, for the fifth time, joined by the Luxembourg meteorological agency. This was the first season when Greece, Israel and Cyprus, and Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Malta named storms which affected their areas.
The 2023–2024 European windstorm season was the ninth season of the European windstorm naming in Europe. The new season's storm names were announced on 1 September 2023. Storms that occur up until 31 August 2024 will be included in this season. This was the fifth season where the Netherlands participated, alongside the United Kingdom's Met Office and Ireland's Met Éireann in the western group. The Portuguese, Spanish, French and Belgian meteorological agencies collaborated for the seventh time, joined by Luxembourg's agency. This is the third season where Greece, Israel and Cyprus, and Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Malta named storms which affected their areas.
The 2024–2025 European windstorm season is the decadal and current season of the European windstorm naming in Europe. The new season's storm names were announced just before the start of the season on 28 August 2024. Storms that occur up until 31 August 2025 will be included in this season. This was the sixth season in which the Netherlands participated alongside the United Kingdom's Met Office and Ireland's Met Éireann in the western group. The Portuguese, Spanish, French and Belgian meteorological agencies collaborated for the eighth time, joined by Luxembourg's agency. This is the fourth season in which Greece, Israel and Cyprus, and Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Malta named storms which affected their areas.
