The Zambia Meteorological Department (ZMD) was established on 1 January 1967 as a specialized agency under the then Ministry of Power, Transport and Works (now Ministry of Communications and Transport). Prior to this, meteorological services in Zambia were administered by the Federal Meteorological Services (Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia) with Headquarters in Salisbury, now, Harare, Zimbabwe.

At the time when the Meteorological Department was established, all the professional posts and technical posts at Meteorological Officer level were filled by recruitment from abroad or by secondment from other national meteorological services as there were no qualified Zambians at the time to fill these posts. Fortunately, through a massive and well-organized training programme undertaken over the years, the Department was able to fill up most of the key posts with Zambian professionals by April 1982.

Zambia became a member of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, in 1964, the same year she got her independence from Britain. The main source of funding for the Department's operations and development is the Government.

To fulfil its responsibilities, the Department established a Headquarters (HQ) unit in Lusaka, a Central Forecast Office (CFO) and a network of 36 outstations distributed around Zambia. Apart from full time weather observatories, the Department also runs a network of about 300 voluntary rainfall stations in collaboration with other Government Departments, individuals and the private sector. The Director of Water Affairs in the Ministry of Energy and Water Development is the Hydrological advisor to the Director of Meteorology.

The work of ZMD has continued to fall under five divisions: Forecasting & Research, Climatology & Advisory Services, Planning & Development, Instruments and Administration.

The current staff establishment is made up of a total of about 160 members of staff, consisting of about eight professional staff and 112 technical staff. The remainder constitute the administrative and support staff.