The World Meteorological Organization's Commission for Weather, Climate, Hydrological, Marine and Related Environmental Services and Applications (SERCOM) met to strengthen services supporting decisions in agriculture, aviation, disaster risk reduction, health, renewable energy, shipping and water management, WMO reported on 19 October 2026. The gathering took place during a strengthening El Niño that the agency said was influencing temperatures and rainfall and worsening hazards including record-breaking heat, catastrophic floods, prolonged droughts, rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones, wildfires, dense haze and marine heatwaves.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said trusted, authoritative forecasts and warnings are more important than ever, and that SERCOM must turn scientific excellence into services with urgency, focus and unity. SERCOM President Ian Lisk said El Niño is discussed across government, resilience, finance and health circles and by the public, and urged using the event to frame what current and future climate can do.

The agenda included amendments to WMO Technical Regulations and competency frameworks, new requirements for the WMO Integrated Processing and Prediction System, a long-term aeronautical meteorology plan, cataloguing hazardous events, a Flood Forecasting Framework and monitoring global temperature. A one-day technical conference covered the Early Warnings for All initiative, which entered its fifth year with attention shifting toward measurable outcomes.