YEREVAN, MARCH 21, NOYAN TAPAN. Starting 1961, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has been marking March 23 as the World Day of Meteorology. Armenia is also among 187 countries that have joined this organization. The first meteorological observations in Armenia were held in 1843 in Gyumri. As Levon Vardanian, the director of the Hydrometeorology and Monitoring State Service of Armenia (Haypethydromet), informed the Noyan Tapan correspondent, currently 44 meteorological and 3 specialized, 7 hydrological stations, 1 agro-meteorological and 94 water-gauge observation points operate in Armenia. The condition of air, water and earth is observed by Haypethydromet by means of those stations and observation points. According to L. Vardanian, during 2007 the degree of justification of the meteorological forecasts of the service made 91.6% for Yerevan. It was mentioned that according to the international standards, a forecast justified by 80% is already considered to be a success. L. Vardanian said that the number of dangerous hydrometeorological phenomena has increased in Armenia. Thus, 45 dangerous phenomena were observed in 2005 and 53 in 2006, while in 2007 - 67. It, according to Vardanian, is observed in the whole world and is conditioned by global change of climate. It was also mentioned that in 2008 nearly 36 mln drams (about 116.5 thousand USD) are envisaged to be allocated from the state budget for getting new equipment for the service.

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