According to the 2017 West Africa seasonal weather updates, produced by the African Centre for Meteorological Applications for Development, a working think tank of climatologist and weather experts, “Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea should expect deficit rain falls,” meaning less rainfall compared to previous years. But, the agency warned against extreme weather conditions.
In Sierra Leone, the first rains of the rainy season began falling in early May. Since the first rains, Sierra Leone has experienced several rainstorms with lightening and thunder and heavy rains. These early rains caused flooding, damage to buildings and fallen trees.
The Acting Director of Sierra Leone Metrological Department, Ibrahim Kamara just returned from a five days West African regional meeting held in Ghana for the Seasonal Weather Updates and according to Kamara, “the outcome of the seasonal updates for countries within the Gulf of Guinea including Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia are that these countries should expect rain deficits meaning low levels of rainfall in 2017”.
Kamara said, “The program in Ghana, is to give decision makers and users of meteorological information a chance to plan their activities. The meeting provides a platform where weather experts gather and analyse data.”
However the Meteorological Director warned, “The country is still vulnerable to extreme weather meaning the seasonal updates revealed that Sierra Leone will experience heavy thunderstorms and strong winds and will be vulnerable to flooding. The forecast is that Sierra Leone will received 25-30% below average rainfall.”
Head of Climatology at the Meteorological Department, Patrick Musa, explained that normally in April, May and June, Sierra Leone used to experience heavy downpours of rain but according to the seasonal predictions for this year, “we will experience less rain.” He added that this information is relevant to farmers in preparations of the farming season and will help them determine the kind of farming activities to embark on and also the energy sector can work on this information on electricity generation.
By Mariam S. Bah
Wednesday May 24, 2017.
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