The WMO GAW Urban Research Meteorology and Environment (GURME) project was established in 1999 in response to the requests of the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs). NMHSs have an important role to play in the study and management of urban environments because they have capabilities and collect information that are essential to the forecasting of urban air pollution and the evaluation of the effects of different emission control strategies. The WMO established GURME as a means to help enhance the capabilities of NMHSs to handle meteorological and related aspects of urban pollution. GURME is designed to do this through co-ordination and focusing of present activities, as well as initiation of new ones. One important objective of GURME is to build “capacity” related to meteorological and air quality (AQ) forecasting for urban environments. Towards this objective GURME is organizing a series of AQ forecasting workshops. Two workshops have been conducted, and more are planned. The objectives of these workshops were: Ø To review the current operational air quality forecasting tools and their requirements, including measurement needs; Ø To identify the current status of relevant research that can be expected to improve operational models in the next few years; Ø To develop recommendations for the direction of improving air quality forecasting; Ø To present the above information in such a way that it is useful for NMHSs that are starting or developing their air quality forecasting activities; Ø To share best-practices regarding air quality forecasting, and to develop and deliver AQ training materials.

In this paper we will present an overview of the WMO GURME project, with emphasis on findings that have emerged from the workshops on air quality forecasting.