World Meteorological Day

23 march 2023 year

Science

March 23 is known as World Meteorological Day. It was first established in 1961 at the initiative of the World Meteorological Organization, which works under the auspices of the United Nations.

The main purpose of this day is to demonstrate the significant contribution of national meteorological and hydrological services to the society's security and well-being. Each year, a special topic related to weather, climate and water research is chosen for World Meteorological Day. In 2023, the topic is "Change Yourself, Change the Future," which encourages people to take action in their own lives to change their attitude towards water use and consumption, as well as water management.

Vasyl Karazin, the founder of Kharkiv University, was one of the first to advocate the importance of meteorology as a science and its applied nature.

In 1810, he was the first in the world who expressed the necessity to create a wide network of meteorological stations for comprehensive weather observations. The scientist wrote: "These observations will be the most important step for meteorology and will enable it to become an exact science, that is, the science of calculating and predicting the weather in a certain place and time." He organized the first meteorological station in Ukraine in his mansion in Kruchyk village (currently Bohodukhiv district of Kharkiv region) and conducted research there for several decades.

Today, meteorological issues are studied at the School of Geology, Geography, Recreation and Tourism at Karazin University.