Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Michel Jarraud visited the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) on Thursday in celebrating the HKO hosting and operating more than 1,000 city weather forecasts on WMO World Weather Information Service (WWIS) Website.

He presented letters of thanks to observatory staff who had contributed to the development and operation of the two world weather websites of WMO, namely the WWIS and the Severe Weather Information Center (SWIC).

Jarraud is in Hong Kong attending the once-in-four-year regional gathering of the directors and senior officials of meteorological services from the Asian region. He said, "With the recent addition of new features such as maps of cloudiness and rain, the content of WWIS has become even more comprehensive. For both the public and the media, WWIS has developed into a convenient one-stop source of official weather observations, forecasts and climatological data for major cities around the world."

Director of the Hong Kong Observatory Lam Chiu-ying said, "We are proud to assist WMO in serving the global community by making available official city forecasts on the Internet. It also provides a window through which official observations and forecasts from developing or least developed countries can be seen by the rest of the world. It enhances the popularity of these countries and brings them closer to the global community."

(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2004)