A storm short-range weather models didn’t see
In Kenya, nowcasting has the potential to fill in crucial gaps Check in with Principal Meteorologist Jemimah Gacheru-Ongoma from the Kenyan Meteorological Department as she breaks down how a storm over Lake Victoria could have been predicted using nowcasting – and why specialised training for weather forecasters in Kenya is so essential. Equipped with nets and floating lanterns, fishermen set out on Lake Victoria at night. This is when silver cyprinid, known locally in Kenya as omena, come to the surface to feed. Attracted by lantern-light, the sardine-sized fish are caught in outstretched nets and sold by fishermen in the morning,…
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Weather ‘nowcasting’ serves Kenyan farmers
Near-term forecasts provide farmers and fishers with information to better time their work in the face of climate risks This article was originally published on China Dialogue under the Creative Commons BY NC ND licence. On a fine morning at Kaptoroi village in Kenya’s western county of Kericho, Leonard Maritim is planting maize as a light rain sets in. The 29 year old has been growing maize, beans and black nightshade for a decade now, and he is also a small-scale dairy farmer. Maritim says his beans did not make it last year because on two occasions he sprayed them with pesticides shortly before…
The FASTA weather Nowcasting App is now live for Kenya
Today’s launch is in partnership with the Kenya Meteorological Department, offering real-time maps of thunderstorms to people with smartphones across the country. The app can now be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Across much of Africa, intense rainfall events are damaging to agriculture and can be especially devastating for smallholder farmers. In severe cases, storms can also lead to fatalities, such as on Lake Victoria where thousands of fishers drown every year when their boats capsize in heavy weather. Storms can also disrupt critical transport routes. Intense rainfall events are predicted to increase in frequency due to climate change,…
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An ethical weather service for Africa
Can the financial benefits of international research stay in the countries that need it most? How do you turn UK-funded scientific research into a commercial product for use in Africa, while ensuring the profits benefit that continent and not the UK? This is the dilemma facing Professor Douglas Parker and his colleagues. They’ve developed a means of providing short-term predictions of extreme weather, which they call ‘now-casting’. “It gives people advance warning of storms and heavy rain — something that’s currently not available in most of sub-Saharan Africa,” says Professor Parker. “Having a few hours before the storm hits in which to…