All 27 working weather stations listed in the World Meteorological Organization's catalogues are back to sharing data internationally. Bulgaria's environment ministry said the news on behalf of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology.
The amount of weather data now sent to global centres is more than double what it was in previous years.
From today, the catalogue on the institute's open-data portal also includes raw operational synoptic (observational) weather data, which comes in every 3 hours and updates in real time. Anyone can use the data for free for research, education, analysis or building apps, as long as they credit the institute as the source.
The portal itself went live in March on the institute's website and offers weather, hydrological and agro-meteorological data in machine-readable form. It's still in its first test phase, and more data will be opened up step by step until the institute has a full platform for free access to its data and products, the ministry said.
The institute wants wider open access to its research and operational data, and more support for new tools and services for the public, the ministry added.