Meteorology bill to regulate weather forecasting

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft meteorology law, seeking to regulate meteorological activities and services such as weather forecasts.

The bill also seeks to provide a single main point of reference that gives weather and climate-related data and information, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Thursday.   

Under the draft law, a licensing committee is to be formed at the Transport Ministry to draw up necessary requirements and conditions for licensing and to specify the equipment deemed necessary to provide meteorological services. 

The committee, to be chaired by the minister of transport, will also decide on the qualifications that meteorologists and weather forecasters must have to provide these services. 

The bill imposes punitive measures against anyone who damages meteorology department equipment and penalises unlicensed parties that issue weather warnings to the public.

Violators face a jail sentence between six months and one year, in addition to a fine no less than JD1,000 and no more than JD20,000, under the draft law.

The bill seeks to regulate weather and climate predictions due to the effect of this information on people’s lives and property, in addition to aviation, Petra said.

The licensing process will also channel revenues to the Treasury and enable the government reduce its support for the Jordan Meteorology Department (JMD), according to Petra.

In remarks during a visit to the JMD on Wednesday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said weather forecast bulletins issued by the department should be accurate and credible as much as possible, stressing that inaccuracies result in large losses to the economy.

During the visit, the premier warned that inaccurate forecasts disrupt the work of various sectors, calling on all meteorology websites to be extra careful in this regard. 

Ensour also stressed the government’s readiness to provide the JMD with the latest weather forecasting technology.

The polar front that affected the Kingdom this week was accompanied by contradictory weather forecasts that caused confusion among Jordanians.

After decades of operating solely, the JMD is facing competition today from emerging professional and amateur forecasters.

Prior to the latest depression, which brought snow and heavy rain, social media and news websites were inundated with contradictory weather bulletins that puzzled Jordanians.

“You read somewhere that the snowstorm is going to be nothing like we have ever witnessed before, and then you open another website that says that the blizzard will not be strong. We don’t know who to believe anymore,” Lama Al Jarrah, a private sector employee, said in remarks The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

“This issue affects people’s lives; therefore, there are plans to enact legislation that governs the sector,” an official source had told The Jordan Times at the time.