Malawi weather latest: Met Office says more rain is on the way in south, central regions
The Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services (DCCMS) says central and southern regions which have been dry in the past few days should expect rains to resume from Wednesday to Sunday.
Director of Climate Change and Meteorological Services, Jolamu Nkhokwe, said the dryness was due to the influence of the subsiding air surrounding Tropical Cyclone Ava over Madagascar.
In a statement, Nkhokwe further says the downpour will be as a result of combined effects of Congo air mass and Inter Tropical Convergence Zone ITCZ.
“During the past week, many areas over the northern parts of the country experienced rainfall which was associated with locally heavy downpours due to the combined effects of Congo air and ITCZ enhanced by thermal heating and orographic effects.
“Most of the south and central areas experienced dry conditions due to the influence of the subsiding air surrounding Tropical Cyclone Ava over Madagascar,” reads part of the statement.
The statement adds that from Wednesday, the 10th January to Sunday, 14th January 2018 some areas in central and southern regions are likely to experience rains again with other areas across the country experiencing isolated to scattered thundery showers.
Nkhokwe, however warned that the resuming of rains in central and southern areas is likely to be associated with strong winds, thunder and lightning caused by protracted heating of the atmosphere, which may cause damages to property and life.
“The general public is therefore advised to take precautionary measures such as being in doors whenever thunderstorms occur to avoid being struck by lightning,” warned Nkhokwe in the statement.
Meanwhile, DCCMS has said it is closely monitoring weather development, including tropical cyclone formation in the South West Indian Ocean and in the Mozambique Channel.
“The public is being strongly advised to religiously pay attention to the continuously available daily and weekly weather updates on local media such as television and radios from the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services,” advised the DCCMS director.
He said this would ensure seamless use of weather information on all timescales by citizens in order to be kept safe from any weather related threats,” said Nkhokwe.
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Addendum:
Probably let me help the met chief to appeal to politicians to help the department retain its measuring instruments in stations throughout the country.
In recent years vandalism and theft of met equipment has been on the rise. This is posing a challenge when ground-truthing satellite data to real observations on the ground.
Politicians can help stop this malpractice by talking to their supporters to treat met equipment as catalyst of development and not as useless toys that vandals and thieves can pull down for scrap metal.
A country without reliable weather data is not compartible with modernity.