The WIS 2.0 Complementary training for Caribbean countries was held from 9 to 12 June in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. This training was organized in collaboration with the Caribbean Meteorological Organization (CMO), with funding from CREWS, and brought together IT specialists from National Meteorological Services of 16 different countries in the Caribbean.
The WIS 2.0 Complementary training for Caribbean countries was a follow-up to the WIS2 training held in 2023. The aim of this workshop was to translate the foundational knowledge of WIS2 into practical skills to enable Caribbean countries to maximize the benefits from using WIS2.
Partially funded through the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative, the training reflects a core belief that investing in the people who maintain the IT infrastructure behind meteorological services is just as critical as investing in the technology itself. A key part of this investment is equipping IT specialists with the skills to deploy and maintain systems built on open, community-driven software, to enable each country to take ownership of its weather data and infrastructure and support sustainable solutions. By pooling capacity across member states, CMO ensures that no country has to tackle the challenges of international data sharing alone.
Over four days, participants worked hands-on with data ingestion and automation workflows, learned to publish a variety of meteorological datasets, and explored the new WIS2 downloader tool for retrieving and integrating data into forecasting workflows. The final day addressed the practical steps of transitioning from the legacy Global Telecommunication System (GTS) to WIS2, and the ongoing work required to maintain and secure live data flows.
The training closed with a knowledge assessment and the establishment of a CMO community of practice, ensuring that the skills and connections built during the week continue to strengthen regional capacity long after the event.
