On 1 January 1873, Statens Meteorologiska Centralanstalt was founded,[2] an autonomous part of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, but the first meteorological observations began on 1 July 1874.

[3] SMHI has offices in Gothenburg, Malmö, Sundsvall and Upplands Väsby, as well as its headquarters.

The research division is divided into six units:[4] The regional and global climate modelling is at the Rossby Centre, which was established at SMHI in 1997.

[6] Some of the atmospheric pollution dispersion models developed by the air quality research unit are: An anonymous letter sent to the Swedish ministry of environment in 2019 and written by 100 SMHI employees, claims that harassment and threats from the management happen frequently within the institution.

In 2020, it was revealed that the sea routing department was sold to its recently resigned former director for a very low price, without any public offer.