About the Meteorological Office
The Meteorological Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network forecasts the weather of the Velocity Interoperability Network, warns member organisations and citizens of hazardous weather, operates the observing stations and weather radars of the Network, and keeps its climate records. Its forecasting centre is at Central Exchange and is staffed at all hours.
The Office was established on 6 September 2026. Its stations were transferred from the member organisations that had operated them during the transition period between 10 August and 5 September 2026, and its first Network forecast was issued at 05:30 on the day of establishment. The register of stations is set out on the Stations page.
Responsibilities. The Office's work falls into five areas.
- Forecasting
- The Network forecast four times daily, the five-day and monthly outlooks, site forecasts for the six principal sites and the coastal waters forecast, prepared at the forecasting centre at Central Exchange.
- Warnings
- Warnings of hazardous weather at four levels for eight hazards, published on this site and sent by email to member organisations and registered citizens.
- Observations
- The common observing programme, quality control of every observation and the supply of observation data on request.
- The observing network
- Twelve surface stations, two weather radars, the upper-air station and three coastal gauges, with their instruments, inspection and calibration.
- Climate records
- The archive of observations and the monthly, seasonal and annual summaries compiled from it, with the verification of the Office's own forecasts.
Organisation. The Office is led by a Director, who is responsible to the Network for the accuracy of its forecasts and the timeliness of its warnings. Under the Director are the Forecasting Division, which staffs the forecasting centre; the Observations Division, which runs the stations, radars and upper-air programme; and the Records Division, which keeps the climate archive, publishes the summaries and verifies the forecasts. The Office's staff at establishment are shown below; the remainder are in records, data and administration.
- 44
- Staff of the Office at establishment
- 14
- Forecasters, staffing the forecasting centre at all hours
- 9
- Observers at the three staffed stations
- 12
- Technicians maintaining instruments, radars and data links
Working with other departments. Warnings at Level 4 are issued jointly with the Emergency Management Department, and warnings of extreme heat and cold in consultation with the Health Department. The Office supplies its observations and records to the Climate Department, to the Environment Department and to any department of the Network that requires them.
For the Office's origins and the milestones since its establishment, see History; for answers to common questions, see the frequently asked questions. General enquiries may be sent to contact@meteorology.gov.vin.