In today’s world weather forecasting is becoming increasingly important in helping to avert disasters as the global warming and climate change phenomenon bite deeper.

The Chinese publication China Daily notes: “A total of 1.2 billion text message warnings about extreme weather changes sent by meteorological departments at various levels to relevant working units or residents in the past year suggest how meteorological workers are adopting a people-centered approach in providing as convenient a service as possible.

Weather forecasts are something which many harbour mixed feelings about – they cannot live without it but they quite often feel annoyed when inaccurate or wrong predictions lead to inconvenience or even great trouble.

When it comes to the reduction of possible losses from natural calamities, the importance of timely and accurate weather forecasts can never be overestimated.

That such a forecast of a rainstorm in Central China’s Hubei Province, along with preparations for the evacuation of residents in July last year, averted a fatal disaster for thousands of local residents, signifies the irreplaceable role of meteorological services in reducing the impact of natural disasters.”

According to the experts weather process in the atmosphere are complicated, rapidly changing and differ greatly from place to place. Perfect forecasting is not possible. A forecast for a short time example a few hours may be accurate. But for longer time periods, example a few days or week, weather forecasting becomes less and less accurate. A forecast made for the month ahead may be little more than a guess!

Weather forecasting is necessary because it is useful to almost everybody, especially for the following people:

Pilots need advance weather information. Poor visibility and sudden weather changes can cause tragic disasters in which hundreds of people can die. Farmers need early warnings of weather conditions to take precautionary measures to safeguard their crops and animals.

Armed forces in battles depend on fairly accurate weather reports to plan their military strategies. Schools and colleges often consult weather forecasters when planning their important functions and events. Everyone has a stake in the weather. People depend on fine weather to organize their activities and make them a success.

Many disasters involving aircrafts have been caused by drastic climatic changes and therefore the correlation between weather forecasting and navigation is becoming a closer one on a daily basis. It is suspected that the most recent Air France disaster was caused by changes in the weather conditions.

So the authorities caution that other than navigation and the airworthiness of your plane, it’s the weather that will determine whether you have a successful flight or not. When you’re flying, weather will affect everything you do and no amount of technical preparation can help you control what’s going to happen next. That is why you’ll have to consult a weather forecast before flying.

Therefore boosting the technical capacity of weather forecasting in the present scenario is not an option but rather an imperative because the long term effects of not doing so can be extremely damaging.

On this score the recent announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture that the state of the art Doppler Radio Tower will be completed in another two weeks is very good news as this will significantly improve our weather forecasting capabilities thus helping preparedness to deal with unusual weather patterns and avert or minimise their adverse effects.

According to Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud the new radar technology will bring Guyana closer to the First World in weather forecasting.

However, a most welcome and pertinent disclosure by the minister is that the new equipment will be modified to be used as an educational facility for students, farmers and other interested persons in an effort to have a greater appreciation of the venture.

Chief Hydrometeorological Officer, Ms. Bhaleka Seulall said Guyana would now be on par with Barbados, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico and French Guiana and as such a radar network will be formed and the coverage from this will be available on the internet. This will allow for full radar coverage up to Miami while overlapping with other radars throughout the region and also the tower will be used for monitoring and early warnings.

In addition, the tower will see the Cheddi Jagan International meeting international aviation standards.

This represents another significant step forward as the current administration strives towards advancing and accelerating the national development thrust and all Guyana should feel proud of this achievement including the cynics and pessissimists.