More and more cities and regions see the importance of providing 1-3 day outlooks of pollution levels of dust, smoke, and smog. The GAW Urban Research Meteorology and Environment (GURME) project has been established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to enhance capabilities in providing urban-environmental forecasting and air quality services of high quality. GURME conducts expert meetings to gather up-to-date information on new methods for chemical weather forecasting, and to help identify future research needs to improve the forecasts. GURME also provides guidelines and training in chemical weather forecasting. The first workshop on air quality forecasting (AQF) was a regional one held in Kuching, Malaysia. With the input from the GURME Training Team, basic courses on AQF are planned to be given in different regions of the globe. A workshop on the use of satellite products has also been organized. As for making air quality measurements in urban areas, the use of passive samplers is promoted. GURME pilot projects are an important mechanism to promote urban activities, these have been established in Beijing, Moscow and for Latin American Cities. At the AMS meeting we plan to present an overview of GURME, and report on recent findings from the pilot projcts and workshops. We also plan to discuss future plans and activities.

The GURME web site is available at:

http://www.wmo.int/web/arep/gaw/urban.html