Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP)

SWFDP Regional Subproject in Southeast Asia (SWFDP-SeA)

SWFDP Development in Southeast Asia

The Cg-XV (2007) noted the significant development and progress of the Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP), from concepts to the first SWFDP regional subproject, implemented in the south-eastern region of Africa in 2006. Further, while noting the importance of accurate and timely severe weather warnings for Members and that if the SWFDP in south-eastern Africa was successful, decided that its concept  should be expanded and implemented throughout RA I and to other WMO Regions especially in developing countries.

Following the recommendation by the Cg-XV (2007), the development process for implementing a SWFDP in RA II Southeast Asia was started in 2010. In this regard, a technical planning workshop on SWFDP development for Southeast Asia was held in Ha Noi, Viet Nam on 2-5 February, 2010 to explore the region’s needs of and possible benefits from a SWFDP for Cambodia, People’s Democratic Republic of Lao, Thailand, and Viet Nam.  The workshop recommended that the project could focus on various hazards associated with tropical cyclones, especially heavy precipitation due to various meteorological events of the region, while also developing the capacity of the National Hydro-Meteorological Centre of Ha Noi, Viet Nam as a sub-regional Centre, with the assistance of the Hong Kong Observatory. Global products could be provided by CMA, JMA, KMA, Hong Kong Observatory, and Viet Nam. 

A meeting to develop a strategy for preparing a draft regional subproject implementation plan (RSIP) for Southeast Asia was also organized in Tokyo, Japan on 17-18 September, 2010. The first two-week SWFDP-Southeast Asia Training Workshop on severe weather forecasting(GDPFS) and warning services (PWS) was conducted in Hong Kong, China during 4-15 July, 2011 and the first meeting of Regional Subproject Management Team (RSMT) was held at RFSC Ha Noi, Viet Nam on 10-13 October, 2011 to discuss and review the RSIP  for SWFDP-Southeast Asia. The subproject website (RFSC Ha Noi web portal) was also developed in 2011 and the participating countries have been benefitting from the NWP including EPS products, and satellite based information made available to them through this website. Philippines joined the subproject as a participating country in May 2012.

In 2013 and 2014 two more training workshops were organized for the beneficiary countries of SWFDP-Southeast Asia. These training workshops were held in Macao, China (April, 2013) and Quezon City, Philippines (June 2014). The second meeting of RSMT was held in Ha Noi, Viet Nam in August 2015 to review and update the RSIP including defining timeline of subproject’s demonstration phase. The fourth SWFDP-Southeast Asia training workshop was held in Bangkok, Thailand in September 2015. The workshop was jointly organized for SWFDP participating countries in Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia.

As per decisions of RSMT in 2015, the demonstration phase of the subproject was started from 1 January 2016.

The subproject activities from 2017 onwards are mainly funded through Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) project entitled “Building Resilience to High-Impact Hydrometeorological Events through Strengthening Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Southeast Asia (SEA)”