A brief history

The observation and studies of New Zealand's weather started as early as the 1840s. The weather forecasting service began in 1861, when a spate of shipwrecks prompted the New Zealand government to start a storm warning service as part of the then Marine Department

Forecasting remained a marine service until 1926, when it became part of the newly-formed Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. At the outbreak of World War Two in 1939, forecasting became part of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The focus on aviation continued with a move in 1964 to the then Department of Civil Aviation, which in 1968 became part of a new "super ministry", the Ministry of Transport.

During the 1980s there was increasing pressure on government funding for meteorology in New Zealand, together with a government-wide move to "user-pays" for specialised services, and to more autonomy and accountability for government departments. A combination of commercial competition in the deregulated market for meteorological services, and reform of publicly funded science, led to the establishment the New Zealand Meteorological Service in July 1992.

In 1995 MetService/Metra was the first national meteorological service operation in the world to achieve ISO 9001 certification.

1. MetService

A State-Owned Enterprise. Our business is operational meteorology, and we provide weather forecasting and presentation services to three main customer groups:

a. The Minister of Transport (for the people of New Zealand)

b. Civil and Military Aviation

c. Media and Industry

2. Metra

The commercial subsidiary and international arm of MetService of New Zealand Ltd. Metra’s brand identity was established in 1995 to clearly represent the Company’s non-governmental activities, namely industry, media and other commercial services. Metra is principally focused on international markets outside of New Zealand.