A New Gateway Has Been Launched to Enhance Forecasts of Strong Thunderstorms in West Africa

Storms in the Sahel area, which may reach over 100km in size, have gotten more severe as a result of global warming during the 1980s, with more heavy rainfall.

Forecasters in West Africa will be able to give communities earlier and more reliable warnings about major storms thanks to an internet site.

The technology of forecasts in Africa

(Photo : MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP via Getty Images)

Forecasters in West Africa will be able to offer residents early and more accurate cautions about major storms thanks to an internet gateway built by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH).

Storms in the Sahel region, which could also attain over 100km in size, became more severe ever since the 1980s as a consequence of global warming, with much more rainfall events, as per ScienceDaily.

Devastating floods during the monsoon season from June to September kill people and livestock, damage property and infrastructure, and cause thousands of people to lose their livelihood and wellbeing.

Modern weather models fail to anticipate where new cyclones will strike and how severe they will be, making it difficult to offer warnings to residents in impacted regions so they can safeguard their property and animals or flee the area.

African national forecasting organizations can already anticipate how storms will behave in the next hours by examining present climatic circulation and analyzing hundreds of prior storms.

Thanks to a recent discovery by UKCEH scientists, they can now create these short-term predictions, known as 'nowcasts,' six hours ahead and with greater precision.

The new study discovered that drier soils can boost the strength of storms while they are moving, influencing where they travel and the quantity of rainfall they create.

These revolutionary nowcasting forecasts and accompanying satellite measurements for West Africa are now available through the Natural Environment Research Council-funded UKCEH's new free site (NERC).

Nationwide forecasters may analyze the data and generate localized forecasts, giving out alerts to residents in storm-prone areas.

Last year, forecasters in Senegal utilized the nowcasting technology to send a severe weather warning to the public through text messages as part of a study.

The site, according to Dr. Steven Cole of UKCEH, is an excellent illustration of how recent science knowledge can be converted into usable real-time tools by collaborating with forecasters.

Crucially, this will assist communities in West Africa in better managing flood risk due to heavy rainfall.

Read more: For Better Weather Forecasts, Look Down

Climate change in Africa

According to new research devoted entirely to Africa, rising temperatures and sea levels, shifting precipitation patterns, and more extreme weather are endangering human health and safety, food and water security, and socioeconomic growth, as per UNFCC.

The State of the Climatic in Africa 2019 study, a multi-agency publication managed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), gives an overview of present and prospective climate trends, as well as their implications for the economy and sensitive sectors such as agriculture.

It outlines approaches for resolving significant gaps and obstacles in climate action in Africa and emphasizes lessons for climate action in Africa.

Through the development and deployment of National Adaptation Plans, the UN Climate Change Secretariat assists countries in assessing and mitigating climate risks (NAPs).

2019 was one of the continent's three hottest years on record. This pattern is likely to persist.

In recent decades, African temperatures have warmed at a rate equivalent to those of most other continents, and consequently somewhat faster than the world's mean surface temperature.

The regional heterogeneity in sea-level changes across Africa is remarkable.

Sea-level rise has exceeded 5 mm per year in various oceanic locations encircling the continent and has been above 5 mm each year south-western Indian Ocean from Madagascar east to and beyond Mauritius.

This is greater than the global average of 3-4 millimeters each year.

Related article: GPS will now provide more accurate precipitate predictions