We may ignore weather reports, but that would be at serious peril

29Oct 2021
Editor
The Guardian
We may ignore weather reports, but that would be at serious peril

THE Tanzania Meteorological Authority has just warned some of the regions on which the country normally heavily depends for maize and various other food crops could find themselves with less than normal rains between next month and April next year.

Given TMA’s decades of experience and the highly trained workforce sophisticated equipment it now boasts, continually improved in both quality and volume over the years, there is every reason to believe that the alert is not something to ignore or take lightly.

Yet, it is not always that weather forecasts are taken with the seriousness they deserve – unfortunately, even by those who ought to know better and respond better.

Even without directly considering the gravity of catastrophes induced by climate change as we know it today, what can happen when the weather decides to protest or misbehave can assume calamitous proportions.

But there is some solace in the fact that having well-functioning early warning systems such as are in use at TMA can mitigate destruction and damage appreciably. Our advice: Let’s always trust the meteorologists, and do whatever we can in heeding their appeals in good time.

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