Fiji Meteorological Service

The Fiji Meteorological Service is a Department of the government of Fiji responsible for providing weather forecasting and is based in Nadi. Since 1995, the FMS has been responsible for the forecasting of tropical cyclones for much of the south Pacific Ocean. All their meteorologists have degrees from accredited universities.

History

In the 1910s, weather services for Fiji were considered part of the responsibility of the Harbour Board in Suva. [http://www.mca.gov.to/Met/index_files/history_tms.pdf]

Tropical cyclone forecasting

Since June 1995, the central weather office of Fiji, Nadi, has been the sixth of six Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers within the World Weather Watch program of the World Meteorological Organization. Its specialty is forecasting tropical cyclones south of the equator to the 25th parallel south, and between the 160th meridian east and 120th meridian west longitude. The office issues two tropical disturbance summaries per day, at 1100 UTC and 2300 UTC, describing tropical disturbances in their region. Marine warnings (gale, storm, and hurricane) are issued four times per day, at 0115, 0715, 1315, and 1915 UTC when needed. Tropical disturbance advisories are also issued four times per day, and include tropical cyclone positions and forecasts. Fiji helps out nearby island groups such as Samoa and Vanuatu by issuing special advisories to those landmasses. [http://www.met.gov.fj/about_RSMC.htm] Daily forecasts are issued two to four times per day for the island groups of the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Wallis and Futuna.

References

External links

* [http://www.met.gov.fj/ Fiji Meteorological Service]
* [http://www.southpacific.org/text/finding_fiji.html Information about Fiji]