Creation
Kuwait Meteorological Department of the Directorate General
of Civil Aviation was established in 1953 and has been a member of World
Meteorology Organisation since 1962. The departments goal is to
monitor, observe and study weather and climate in Kuwait. The department
consists of five superintendents who oversee Forecast, Climate,
Stations, Communications-Met Info and Instrumentation Maintenance
sections.
Human & Technical Capabilities
Kuwait Meteorological
Department employs approximately 150 qualified staff who work around
the clock to operate, monitor and maintain complex and up-to-date
meteorological equipment and systems which are essential to the
department's operation.
The Department operates 27 land and marine
automatic weather observation stations (which are located throughout the
State of Kuwait), 14 wind-shear alert systems and 6 independent
automatic weather stations at Kuwait Airport runways which are used
primarily for improving safety during aircraft operations. Additionally
the department operates a fully manned 24x7 weather observing station at
Kuwait Airport. Separately, the Department operates specialised systems
to measure the radiation and elements of the upper atmosphere/Ozone
layers up to 16 Km in vertical height and one latest generation Doppler
Weather Radar which is used primarily to detect clouds, height and
density and areas that effected by dust.
It is worth mentioning that
the MET Department, with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, is
preparing for the implementation of several new projects to upgrade its
current systems over the next two years to improve the efficiency of the
MET services.
General Services
Kuwait Meteorological Department
is the official source and provider of weather information in Kuwait.
The Department provides 5 day weather and marine forecast twice a day,
weather warnings and watches for extreme weather events such as
thunderstorms, dust storms and flooding at least 72 hours prior the
expected event. Current weather condition reports are provided
automatically to all airplanes crossing Kuwait airfield to ensure the
safety of all inbound and outbound aviation traffic. The automated
reports includes weather alerts and areas that are effected by storms or
volcanic aches.
The department serves government sectors such as Air
Force, National Guard, Ministry of Transportations, Ministry of
Interior, Ministry of Electricity and Water, Navy, Cost Guard, Kuwait
Ports, Marine Operations and Fire Department. Also climate statistics
and studies are provided by the Meteorological Department to educational
institutes and other sectors.
External Activity
Kuwait
Meteorological Department contributes to a dedicated Meteorological
global network thus enabling meteorological data exchange to other
official meteorological agencies at the regional level as well as
worldwide. The department operates within all guidelines and regulations
of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) , International Civil
Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC).
The Department is an active member of the Permanent
Committee for Meteorology and Climate of the Gulf Cooperation Council
and the Permanent Arab Meteorological Committee of the League of Arab
States.
Media Role
In order to ensure communication with the
public, the Department provides its services through various means of
communication through the automated telephone service (104), through the
MET department website
www.met.gov.kw,
and through the application of meteorology (KuwaitMet) for smart phones
as well as through (KuwaitMet) account on Twitter and Instagram.
ISO Certificate
Kuwait
Meteorological Department acquired ISO certification ISO9001:2008 in
2013 and currently working on developing its services to acquire ISO
certification ISO9001:2015 to be able to fulfil WMO and ICAO standards
and requirements and to upgrade its services to higher slandered.