Review for the forty years of WMO Tropical Cyclone Programme (1980–2020)

To celebrate the 40 years of the WMO Tropical Cyclone Programme (TCP), a review was organized to highlight achievements and success stories of TCP for the past 40 years, including foundational background history, activities, achievements, benefits to the Members, etc. The review also briefly looked at the ways forward for the future of TCP to address the emerging challenges and opportunities in the years ahead.

After having implemented theTCP for 40 years, enormous successes have been achieved in operational services, notably:

• A steady trend of decrease in tropical cyclone track forecast errors: today the five-day track forecast is as accurate as that the two-day forecast thirty years ago
• Storm surge information is available in RSMC advisory bulletins which are accessible through dedicated websites of those RSMCs covering all ocean basins prone to tropical cyclones
• Monitoring of tropical cyclones round the clock and over the globe, with constellations of satellites supported by satellite operating Members and partnerorganizations