Talking about early warning sytems, Prof. Dr Gerhard Adrian states that every warning earlier than 30 minutes before the hazardous event is an early warning. "During summer we had only five percent of the aircraft reports we usually have",  Prof. Dr Gerhard Adrian explains why it is difficult to give accurate weather predictions during the corona pandemic. 

Josephien Albrecht

What is an Early Warning System (EWS)?

• Early: Before an hazardous event
• Warning: asks questions like authoritative vs. non-authoritative
• System: different systems like oberservation, monitoring, governance, etc. 

The local climate is always important, emphasizes Adrian, because there are local circumstances. WMO also coordinates the value chain and the key systems. COVID-19 had a huge influence on e.g. global aircraft reports. Sometimes the human observers were not able to continue the reports. But the WMO does not only collect this information, but also communicate it. "For an optimum use of this information we have to communicate the information in the right way!" The way, how it is used, is absolutely crucial here. 

Dr. Diana Mantel