Creating a coupled multi-model hydrometeorological forecasting and decision support system

The project “South-East European Multi-Hazard Early Warning Advisory System” (SEE-MHEWS-A) is a collaborative effort to strengthen the existing early warning capacity in south-eastern Europe. The project was initiated in 2016 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and has been supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), World Bank and the European Commission and has now developed from a concept into implementation of a quasi-operational multi-hazard forecasting  and decision making system. The SEE-MHEWS-A project will benefit the national meteorological and hydrological services of WMO Members from the region - that is Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, North Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine. The system contains a full multi-model hydrometeorological chain with four limited area numerical weather prediction models (LAM) that provide input to three hydrological models. The LAM's are COSMO, ICON, NMMB and ALARO. The hydrological models are LISFLOOD, HBV and WFLOW. The pilot also consists of a meteorological nowcasting system, and the outputs are visualized on a web-based interactive platform. SEE-MHEWS-A will provide operational forecasters with effective and tested tools for forecasting hazardous weather events and their possible impacts in order to improve the accuracy of warnings and their relevance to stakeholders and users. The project has so far led to an increase in sharing of observations, information and expertise between the countries in the area. It has also allowed for development of innovative ways of presenting the hydrometeorological information to support forecasting and decision-support activities in the region.