THE recent call by Environment minister Mangaliso Ndhlovu to invest in critical weather forecasting equipment necessary to help the Meteorological Service Department (MSD) carry out its mandate should be given utmost consideration.
With the effects of climate change becoming increasingly more visible and extreme, Ndhlovu’s plea is both timely and urgent. It comes at a time Zimbabwe and the rest of the world are experiencing rising temperatures, frequent droughts and floods and shifting rainfall patterns.
The foregoing climate change challenges demand accurate location-specific forecasting which, in the case of floods and cyclones, can help to save lives and minimise property damage. Accurate forecasting is also crucial for agriculture as it allows farmers to determine the best time to plant.
Crucially, the extreme weather patterns such as prolonged drought and frequent cyclones gripping Zimbabwe underline the importance of early warning systems supported by quality weather information.
For this reason, an institution like MSD, which is critical in saving lives and making sure that Zimbabwe and its people are well-prepared to protect infrastructure, needs to be capacitated.
According to a recent interview by MSD agriculture meteorologist Benjamin Kwenda, most of the rain gauges in use across the country are manual and are unable to transmit data automatically. Automated meteorological equipment like rain gauges can strengthen flood early warning systems as the data can feed directly into flood forecasting models.
The other limitation, according to Kwenda, is that the MSD lacks the capacity to forecast some hydro-meteorological hazards such as thunderstorms, floods, droughts, heat and cold waves with accuracy. For this reason, the government must stump up the cash to finance the establishment of automated weather stations and acquisition of high performance computers which allow for more data storage, faster processing, analysis, and visualisation of incoming data.
As minister Ndhlovu also rightly put it, the MSD in its current state lacks the capacity to give accurate weather forecasts because it lacks basic equipment and infrastructure to provide timely and seasonal information. To make matters worse, the MSD’s network of observation systems has deteriorated over the years due to limited financial resources.
Not surprisingly, the underfunded MSD continues to be hit by a suffocating brain drain, with specialised personnel leaving the country for greener pastures.