The National Meteorological Center (NMC), firstly called the Central Meteorological Office (CMO), was established on 1 March 1950. The past five decades have witnessed rapid progress. In 2001, the then National Meteorological Center and National Climate Center were re-organized into a new and more streamlined National Meteorological Center to cover additional areas of agrometeorology, remote sensing application and environmental meteorology. The new NMC houses the Central Meteorological Observatory, Climate Center and Meteorological Information Center. The Observatory is for weather and environmental monitoring, forecasting and warning; the Climate Center is for short-range climate prediction and climate change; while the Information Center is for the collection and dissemination of meteorological information as well as the operation and management of telecommunication, computer networking and meteorological data. 

Missions

NMC is a center for national weather forecasting, climate prediction, climate change study, meteorological information collection and dissemination. It is designated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC) for Asia and the Emergency Response Center in Case of Accidental Release and Dispersion of Radioactive Substances. Moreover, NMC also functions as the Regional Telecommunication Hub (RTH) in Asia and a sub-center of World Data-D, and is expected to become one of the World Regional Climate Centers soon.

NMC provides meteorological information to the top government bodies and authorities to facilitate their decision-making processes in case of formulating a national economic development strategy or coordinating a disaster preparedness and mitigation campaign; provides public meteorological service through TV, radio, newspaper and website; provides specialized meteorological services to projects, institutions and businesses; provides guidance to meteorological setups at provincial level; and provides technical support to the Chinese experts involved in the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). NMC's service is found in all major sectors in China such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, transportation, energy, water resources, oceanography, environment, insurance and business.

NMC Tomorrow

Based on science and technology, NMC will work together with domestic and international researchers and educators to further pursue the Numerical Weather Prediction and the climate prediction system to forecast and predict typhoon, torrential rain, severe convective weather, drought, sandstorm, and air quality in a more accurate manner to meet the growing needs of all walks of life. Greater R&D efforts will be made in the areas of weather, climate, environment, applied meteorology, and remote sensing and IT applications. And the NMC's scope of operation will be expanded to contribute more to disaster preparedness and mitigation, sustainable development and people's well being in China.