Meteorology agency promises better forecasts

THE RWANDA Meteorological Agency will acquire a weather radar by the end of the year that will help provide more efficient forecasting.The agency made the disclosure on Thursday as Rwanda joined the worldwide meteorological community to mark the World Meteorological Day.The event in Kigali was attended by various stakeholders from different sectors like disaster management, security, air transport operations, academic sector, health, agriculture and food security and environment.The event was also characterised by testimonies of end-users of weather and climate information on how meteorological information is used, especially in protecting people and their property.“For Rwanda, the celebration is a noble time to meet with stakeholders and partners to highlight the progress registered in meteorology and also discuss the way of enhancing services offered to support different sectors in achieving development targets,” said John Ntaganda Semafara, the director of Meteorology at the Ministry of Infrastructure.Meteorological services offered in Rwanda include issuing and disseminating weather forecasts, advisories and warning, seasonal weather and climate predictions.Currently, Meteorological network of stations is comprised of 13 Agro -synoptic Stations, 17 Automatic Weather Stations, 72 Climatological Stations, and 71 rainfall stations around the country. They are all used to measure parameters for weather and climate. More automatic weather stations will also be installed soon to expand the network of stations.