Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center
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The Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center (Український гідрометеорологічний центр, УкрГМЦ) is the national hydrometeorological service of Ukraine.
Administration
Early scientific weather observation and forecasting in Ukraine was carried out by various observatories located in the territory of Ukraine between the 17th and 19th centuries.[1] In 1844, Kyiv University designed a plan to establish its own meteorological observatory, which was eventually built in 1855.[2] In 1921, the Ukrmet (Укрмет) was founded as a centralized hydrometeorological service for providing weather forecasts and weather warning services, with local departments in each region of Ukraine.[2][3][4]
In 1948, Ukrmet joined the International Meteorological Organization, and then become a member of it successor — the World Meteorological Organization, established in 1950. In 1953, the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute (Український гідрометеорологічний інститут, УкрГМІ) was established as a scientific and educational institution for climate research and a meteorology,[5] independent from Ukrmet. In 1964, the Kyiv meteorological observatory moved to a new building, and in 1996 it transformed into the independent Central Geophysical Observatory (ЦГО), operating its own network of weather stations.[citation needed] On 19 November 2003, the Day of Meteorology worker (also known as Meteorologist Day) was introduced in Ukraine as an annual professional holiday, as opposed to the World Meteorological Day celebrated on 23 March.[citation needed] In 2010, the Ukrainian State Hydrometeorological Service (УкрДГС) launched its official website.[6] In preparation for UEFA Euro 2012, a «Weather EURO2012» page was launched on official website.[7]
In 2011, the Ukrainian State Hydrometeorological Service was transformed into the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center and released its strategy up to 2020. That same year, the Ministry of Emergencies of Ukraine (МНС) was transformed into the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (ДСНС), which since then curates the UHMI, UHMC and CGO independently from each other (UHMI co-curated by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine).[8][9][10][11]
Ukrainian hydrometeorological center: We observe. We predict. We warn.
State Emergency Service of Ukraine: Prevent. Save. Help.
Since 2014, due the Russo-Ukrainian War, many of UHMC's local weather stations have been occupied, damaged or totally ruined.[citation needed]
In 2021, UHMC celebrated its 100th Anniversary.[4][12][13][14][15] The same year UHMC released its strategy up to 2030.[16][17]
Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine since 2022, many local weather stations in Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv Zaporizhzhia and other regions were lost or damanged. The war also impacted the nature and weather conditions in Ukraine,[18][19][20] such as the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam,[21] the destruction of many populated places, power plants and factories, massive wildfires and deforestation.[22][23][24] All together this may influence global climate changes,[25] unpredicted by earlier designed weather models.[26]
As of 2023, UHMC operated a network of around 250 weather stations,[27][28] one half being classic stationary stations.[29]
- Logo
2010
2012
2024[30]
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- 1992—2011: Mykola Kulbida (executive director)
- 2011—2024: Mykola Kulbida (director-in-chief)[31][32]
- 2024—present: Veronika Filonenko (acting director)[33]
Membership
UHMC represents Ukraine and is a member of various international organizations and projects:
- World Meteorological Organization[34][35][36]
- EUMETSAT inviates UHMC for trainings[37][38]
- Meteoalarm[39]
- Danube monitoring (DanubeHIS,[40][41] DAREFORT,[42] LAREDAR)
- Dniester monitoring[43]
Since 2022, collaboration established with the Finnish Meteorological Institute on modernizing hydrometeorology infrastructure and operations in Ukraine.[44]
Services
UHMC, together with UHMI, is an exclusive weather service and data provider for all subdivisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Energoatom, Ukrhydroenergo, and the Hydrometeorological service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (military meteorologists of the Hydrometeorological Center of the AFU (ГМЦ ЗСУ) operates own small network of weather stations[45][46][47]).[28] For the aeronautical weather UHMC cooperates with the State Enterprise «Ukrainian Aviation Meterorological Center» (ДП «УАМЦ»), independently curated by SESU.[48][49]
For the general public, UHMC provides plenty of weather services for free via official website and its pages on social media:
- Warnings[50] (State Emergency Service of Ukraine responsible for notifing public via FM/AM-radio, TV and civil defense sirens[51])
- Current weather and forecast values, chart and maps (as base uses Visicom Maps, based on OpenStreetMap Data)
- Weather Widget (for site owners)
- Cloud coverage animation (based on EUMETSAT/Meteosat imagery and data processed by UHMI[52][53])
- Radiology situation and forecast
- Hidrology situation and forecast[54]
- Agrometeorology situation and forecast
- Aeronautics situation and forecast
- Weather radar (operated by SE «UAMC» and relaunched in 2019,[55] it was destroyed in 2022 during Russian invasion)
- Air pollution and quality situation
While UHMC is a non-profit organization, it provides some paid services on request, such as raw data access and custom forecasts.[56]
For decades UHMC had a monopoly on weather data collecting, processing and providing for the public in Ukraine. With the rise of cheap automatic weather stations and widespread mobile Internet access, many amateurs and private companies, such as urban developers and agricultural holdings, constructed grids of personal weather stations in Ukraine and launched own weather services (SaveEcoBot, LUN,[57] OpenWeatherMap, Weather Underground, Blitzortung, etc.).[58]