The World Meteorological Organisation's Severe Weather Information Centre website has launched a new service that provides details of heavy rain and snow around the world. The Hong Kong Observatory's website provides a convenient link to the website.

Previously the website provided information on tropical cyclones. Observation data of other severe weather types will be added in stages for reference by the public and the media.

As heavy rain and snow can lead to flooding and other related disasters, a web page showing the global distribution of heavy rain events is the first service to be introduced.

The web page displays the locations of heavy rain with amounts greater than 50 mm in 24 hours on a map together with the observation data. The page is updated four times a day. Hyperlinks of the official websites of the countries providing the reports are shown together with the data for easy reference.