[1] ECMWF was established in 1975, in recognition of the need to pool the scientific and technical resources of Europe's meteorological services and institutions for the production of weather forecasts for medium-range timescales (up to approximately two weeks) and of the economic and social benefits expected from it.

It uses numerical weather prediction methods to prepare forecasts and their initial conditions, and it contributes to monitoring the relevant parts of the Earth system.

These forecasts are typically: Over the past three decades ECMWF's wide-ranging programme of research has played a major role in developing such assimilation and modelling systems.

[16] ECMWF's monthly and seasonal forecasts provide early predictions of events such as heat waves, cold spells and droughts, as well as their impacts on sectors such as agriculture, energy and health.

The increased time gained by issuing accurate warnings can save lives, for instance by evacuating people from a storm surge area.

In October 2012 the ECMWF model suggested seven days in advance that Hurricane Sandy was likely to make landfall on the East Coast of the United States.

This involves feeding weather observations collected over decades into a NWP system to recreate past atmospheric, sea- and land-surface conditions over specific time periods to obtain a clearer picture of how the climate has changed.

A reanalysis product (ERA5)[20] with higher spatial resolution (31 km) was released by ECMWF in 2019 as part of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

[23] ECMWF comprises 23 European countries: It also has co-operation agreements with other states: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Romania and Slovakia.