Global Flood Pilot

The WMO Integrated Processing and Prediction System (WIPPS) is a worldwide network of operational centres operated by WMO Members to make defined products and services operationally available among WMO Members and relevant operational organizations for applications related to weather, climate, water, and environment. Floods are recognized as priority hazards under the Early Warnings for All initiative and therefore WMO aims to support Members’ flood forecasting and warning services by providing them with global flood prediction products through WIPPS. As of now, such products are produced by many entities, including national prediction centres and also the private sector and academia. An enhanced coordination of the provision, assessment and dissemination of these products will ensure their usefulness and application to support Members’ capabilities. It is worth noting that there is currently no real standardized evaluation and verification process tracking the quality of these products. The WMO Executive Council at its seventy-eighth session therefore requested the Commission for Observation, Infrastructure and Information Systems (INFCOM) in collaboration with the Commission for Weather, Climate, Hydrological, Marine and Related Environmental Services and Applications (SERCOM) to identify user requirements for the products, and to conduct a pilot exercise to examine the utility of and the technical challenges involved in using products from traditional and non-traditional sources in the WIPPS, with the aim of developing a WIPPS activity regarding global riverine flood prediction products to meet user requirements (Resolution 21 (EC-78)). The outcome of the pilot exercise will be presented at the 4th session of INFCOM (2026).