The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NIMET

  • NiMet warns on inclement weather, meningitis

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) on Monday warned on the likely outbreak of meningitis due to the onset of dry season in some parts of the country.

    The agency also warned rural dwellers against direct exposure to prolonged sunlight.

    It also noted the occurrence of dust outbreaks during the season which will lead to disruption of flight operations across the country.

    NiMet disclosed these in a statement issued in Abuja, Monday.

    The statement reads: “With the end of the rainy season, hot and dry weather conditions in the afternoons and cold nights will set in especially in the northern part of the country and a general increase in temperature across most parts of the country.

    “The effect of the increase in temperatures will result in deterioration in human comfort.

    “The citizenry especially rural dwellers resident in north and central parts of the country are advised to avoid prolonged exposure to direct sunlight and stay in cool and ventilated environment. This will reduce heat stress and prevent incidences of dehydration and meningitis epidemics.

    “During this period, the prevailing meteorological conditions will be favorable for increase in the surface wind speed.

    “Consequently, dust particles are expected to be raised in Niger and Chad desert areas and subsequently transported across the country by the Northeast trade wind.

    “Progressively, the dry and dusty wind (harmattan) will become prevalent and extend to the southern part of the country.

    “As the concentration of the dust particles increases, the atmosphere will get drier and incidences of respiratory disorder will become prevalent. Dust outbreaks will occur during the season which occasionally will reduce horizontal visibility significantly with the attendant disruption of flight operations across the country.”

     

  • NiMet predicts cloudy weather conditions on Friday

    NiMet predicts cloudy weather conditions on Friday

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudy weather conditions over the central states of the country on Friday morning.

    The predictions are contained in the Weather Outlook issued by NiMet’s Central Forecast Office (CFO) on Thursday in Abuja.

    It stated that there would be partly cloudy conditions over Gombe, Bauchi, Kaduna and Kebbi with localised thunderstorms over the remaining part of the region during the afternoon and evening hours.

    NiMet predicted that the coastal areas would experience localised showers in the morning, with chances of localised thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours.

    It also predicted that inland areas would experience cloudy morning with localised thunderstorms over the entire cities in the afternoon and evening.

  • NiMet predicts cloudy, rainy, weather conditions for Sunday

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudy weather conditions over the central states of the country on Sunday morning.

    The predictions are contained in the Weather Outlook, issued by NiMet’s Central Forecast Office (CFO) on Saturday in Abuja.

    It said that there would be localised thunderstorms over areas like Abuja, Lokoja, Makurdi and Lafia during the afternoon and evening hours.

    It predicted that the coastal areas would experience cloudy conditions with localised rain showers in the morning and localised rains over the entire coast in the afternoon and evening hours.

    It also predicted that inland areas would experience cloudy conditions and localised rain showers in the morning, with chances of localised rains over the region in the afternoon and evening hours.

    NiMet said the Northern states would experience partly cloudy conditions in the morning, with sunny conditions in the afternoon and evening hours.

  • NiMet predicts cloudy, rainy, weather on Friday

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudy weather conditions over the central states of the country on Friday.

    The predictions are contained in the Weather Outlook issued by NiMet’s Central Forecast Office (CFO) on Thursday in Abuja.

    It explained that there would be localised thunderstorms over Abuja, Lokoja, Lafia, Jos and part of Minna axis in the afternoon and evening hours.

    NiMet predicted that the coastal areas would experience cloudy conditions over South-West, with localised rains over South-East in the morning and localised thunderstorms over the entire coast in the afternoon and evening hours.

    It predicted that inland areas would experience cloudy conditions over South-West, with chances of localised showers over South-East in the morning and localised thunderstorms over the entire region in afternoon and evening.

    NiMet predicted that Northern states would experience cloudy conditions with sunny conditions over Katsina, Kano, Dutse, Nguru and Maiduguri axis in the morning.

    It said there would be localised thunderstorms over Sokoto and Gusau axis in the afternoon and evening hours.

  • NiMet predicts thunderstorms, rains today

    NiMet predicts thunderstorms, rains today

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted that the southern part of the central states would experience thunderstorms with chances of rains this morning.

    The predictions are contained in the Weather Outlook issued by NiMet’s Central Forecast Office (CFO) yesterday in Abuja.

    It added that localized thunderstorms with rains are likely to affect a few places within the region such as Zaria, Kaduna, Jos, Bauchi, Yola and Gombe axis later in the day.

    NiMet also predicted that the coastal areas would experience cloudy conditions over the southwest with chances of localized rains over the southeast coast in the morning.

    It said that localized rains would be expected in the afternoon and evening hours over the entire region.

    NiMet also predicted that the inland areas would experience a cloudy morning over the southwest cities, with chances of continuous intermittent localized rains over the southeast the entire day.

    It added that localized rains may linger over a few of the southwest cities in the afternoon and evening hours.

    NiMet further predicted that the northern cities of Kano, Katsina, Gusau and Sokoto axis would experience thunderstorms with chances of localized thunderstorms over Dutse, Nguru, Potiskum in the morning hours.

    The agency added that localised afternoon thunderstorms may persist over some northern cities within the region during the forecast period.

  • NiMet predicts cloudy, rainy weather conditions for Monday

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudy weather conditions with localised rains over the central states of the country on Monday.

    The predictions are contained in the Weather Outlook issued by NiMet’s Central Forecast Office (CFO) on Sunday in Abuja.

    It added that there would be thunderstorms over Makurdi, Lafia, Kaduna, Abuja and Lokoja axis in the morning and thundery activities elsewhere during the afternoon and evening hours.

    NiMet also predicted that the coastal area would experience cloudy conditions over the region during the morning hours with prospects of rain showers mostly in the afternoon.

    It also predicted that inland areas would experience cloudy conditions during the morning hours with prospects of localised rain showers during the afternoon and evening hours.

    NiMet predicted that Northern states would experience cloudy conditions in the morning hours with prospects of localised thunderstorms over Kano and Nguru axis and over most part in the afternoon and evening hours.

  • NIMET, NEMA advocate flood prevention and mitigation

    NIMET, NEMA advocate flood prevention and mitigation

    The Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Gombe, Gombe State, have urged Nigerians to heed  early warnings on disasters and emergencies as a way of preventing and mitigating them.

    NIMET Manager Mr. Peter Ibrahim and NEMA’s Head of Operations Alhaji Saidu Minin spoke at a one-day awareness programme on Pre-Flood campaign, towards early warning and early action for stakeholders in Gombe.

    Ibrahim said pre-flood campaigns were to enlighten residents on preventive measures, as well as measures to mitigate such disasters if they occurr.

    “Therefore, I urge all and sundry to take its (NIMET) predictions serious; anticipating floods before they occur allows for precautions to be taken, and people warned so that they can be prepared in advance for flooding conditions,” Ibrahim said.

    Minin said heeding early warnings and early actions were imperative towards preventing and mitigating disasters and emergencies.

    He said the campaign will enable non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders to synergise with other disaster managers in public campaign for flood prevention and mitigation.

    The Northeast zonal Director of the National Environmental Safety Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Abdullahi Aliyu said early warning raises awareness to impending disaster to vulnerable population to enable them respond appropriately and minimise damage.

    Aliyu advised residents to stop dumping refuse in drainage channels, enforce environmental laws, ensure appropriate management of dams, among others, to prevent flood.

  • NIMET to commercialise services

    NIMET to commercialise services

    • Fed Govt to stop funding of agencies in three years

    The Nigeria Meteorological Agency has disclosed its intention to embark on full scale commercialisation of its services as a way to reduce its dependence on government funding.

    Already, the federal government has warned that it will withdraw its allocation to aviation agencies in the next three years.

    Confirming the commercialisation plan, the Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka said: “All the agencies have prioritised their work because oil prices have gone down and government resources are not a full pot right now.

    Osita noted that the commercialisation move if achieved will increase the contribution of aviation to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    The minister made this known in Abuja during the commissioning of the NiMet Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centre and Scientific and Technical Information Library.

    He said: “This government is investing huge sums of money in the provision of infrastructure, as well as human capacity development, in the Aviation parastatals in order to strengthen their capacity to increase Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), eventually become independent of Government funding within the next three years and scale up the contribution of aviation GDP from the present 0.6per cent to at least five per cent.

    “It is my expectation that NiMet will deploy the resources at their ICT centre, as well as other facilities in achieving this objectives, particularly in driving the commercialisation initiatives,”he added.

    Speaking on the need to go into full scale automation, the minister said: “The high cost of service delivered from Nigerian aviation sector is principally because of the manual and laborious nature of work being done, if we automate most of our processes, we will achieve more.

    “I’m impressed with the level of ICT implementation in NiMet knowing full well that my major thrust in the service is the automation. I believe automation is the future of Nigeria public sector, I believe automation is the future of Nigeria. It creates transparency, it makes you work smart and it ensures that the deliverables are clearly defined.

    Continuing, the Minister said: “I think the level of automation in NIMET is a standard that all other aviation agencies must look at and must adopt. It is not enough that we mouth these words of automation but we must be early adopters of automation. We must implement them and see to it that the benefit of automation is passed on to the customers.

  • ‘Over 40% air accidents are weather related’

    The former Director, Weather Services, Nigeria Met eorological Agency (NIMET),Chief Thaddeus Obidike has said statistics has shown that over 40 per cent of air accidents and incidents are weather related.

    Presenting a paper titled Aviation Weather Hazard and Aircraft Accident and Inciden at an aviation forum with Sustaining Safety in the Nigerian Aviation Sector organised by Aeroconsult  last week in Lagos as its theme, he said: “Statistics has shown that over 40 per cent of aviation accidents and incidents are weather related. Aviation safety therefore cannot be discussed effectively without proper focus on weather information, which includes weather reports, weather forecasts, and early warning of impending weather hazards.”

    Weather, he said  is known to affect every phase of flight operation, including take-off and climb out, cruising, maneuvering and landing phase but however pointed out that jet aircraft, especially those on long-distance flights cruise at altitudes in the upper layer  and  lower stratosphere, where to a  large extent they are above the active weather zone.

    Obidike arguedthat weather affects them mainly in the take-off and climb out phase and decent for approach and landing phase, adding that short distance flights usually operate in the lower and middle troposphere up to about eight km and as a result are more prone to be affected by adverse weather systems.

    The weather expert said in aviation, weather information plays a very important role in flight operation adding that based on that, the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) established a working relationship in this regard.

    He added that while ICAO established requirement and sets standards, WMO established how to meet these requirements and sets standards for service delivery.

    On weather early warning system for aviation, he explained that it involves early identification and tracking of those weather  phenomena in the atmosphere that constitute aviation hazards, with a view to giving early alert, good lead time, to ensure that precautionary measures are taken by operators  to avoid accident or minimize losses.

    He further explained that it also involves putting instruments and facilities in place for monitoring.

    Communication, he said is an integral part of aviation early warning system adding that there must be a fast and adequate means of delivering weather information to the users or to those that will be at risk.

    He added that time scale is also a very important aspect of early warning system, as some weather systems develop much more quickly than others and in some cases, the status of a weather event can change very quickly.

  • NiMet predicts cloudy conditions, localised rains today

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudy weather conditions with chances of thunderstorms over the eastern parts and the high grounds including Abuja and Jos today.

    According to NiMet, prospects of thunderstorms are expected in the central states over the region in the afternoon and night.

    NiMet’s Central Forecast Office (CFO), in its Weather Outlook in Abuja yesterday, said: “The southern coastal areas will experience cloudy conditions with chances of localised drizzles in the morning, especially over the eastern parts.

    “Prospects of rains are expected over the eastern parts in the afternoon.

    “Cloudy conditions are expected in the inland areas with chances of localised rains over the eastern parts in the morning.

    “Prospects of rains are also expected over the entire region in the afternoon and night,” NiMet predicted.

    According to the forecast, the northern states will experience cloudy conditions with chances of localised thunderstorms on Sunday afternoon and night.