|
Short rains will come late – Met boss
2005-11-03 07:08:17
By Gerald Kitabu
This year’s short rains that usually begin from late September to the second half of October, have been delayed.
The rains may be unusually late in northeastern regions and north coastal areas.
The Director General of the Tanzania Meteorological Agency, Dr Mohammed Mhita, said in an exclusive interview with The Guardian on Monday that the delay is attributed to climate variability.
He said the lake zone regions whose short rains begin late September to early October will receive very little amount of rain than normal.
He said short rains are usually not reliable as compared to long rains; it all depends on the changing weather.
’North eastern areas such as Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Manayara and the eastern part of Mara region may receive short rains too late due to the fact that such rains are unreliable,’ he said.
Likewise, Tanga, Coastal region, Dar es salaam, Morogoro, Zanzibar and Pemba may also receive the rains late due to the fact that the rains depend on the changing weather.
He said in some parts of the country short rains have just started but not well established.
Commenting on the situation on central regions, southern highlands regions and the western part of the country, he said these areas are supposed to get what we call seasonal rains beginning end of November to late April.
”The central part and the highland regions are expected to receive rains at the end of November until April, they have not yet started, but we expect them to start at around that period,” the Met chief added.
He urged people, especially farmers to take advantage of the short rains and maximize them for agricultural activities.
’We hope these rains will relieve water problems and pasture on those areas where they fall, farmers should maximize fully that opportunity for agriculture,’ he said.
Commenting on natural disasters along coastal areas like the tsunamis in south-east Asia and hurricanes in America, he said his agency is a member of World Matereorological Organisation and it receives weather information from around the world at any time of a day.
”If our station indicate signs of approaching human disasters like what happened in the areas mentioned, we will take precautions including informing the general public accordingly,” said Mhita.
|
