With Jamaica and the rest of the world celebrating World Meteorological Day 2008 tomorrow, the Meteorological Service is pursuing plans to increase its weather-observation capabilities in the next financial year.

March 23 marks the anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in 1950, and is celebrated annually to focus attention on the work of the specialised agency of the United Nations and its affiliated organisations throughout the world.

Monitoring capabilities

Sylvia McGill, director of the national Meteorological Service, says the organisation's plans to upgrade its weather-observation system in the short term will go a far way in shoring up its monitoring capabilities, making definitive statements on the local climate change experiences more practicable.

Within the next year, or so, the Met Service will have seen the installation of close to 15 automatic weather stations across the island, giving us the capacity for a more comprehensive recording of weather conditions and monitoring or meteorological elements," she says.