Most of Africa's 1.3 billion people have little advance knowledge of the weather. But on a continent often hit by extreme weather events, knowing the forecast could save lives.
Most of Africa 's 1.3 billion people have little advance knowledge of the weather. But on a continent often hit by extreme weather events, knowing the forecast could save lives.This has dramatic consequences. Over the last two decades, the average number of deaths caused by a flooding event in Africa is four times higher than in Europe or North America, according to a
Weather forecasting is complex. In the best case scenario, it needs millions of data points -- measurements of things like temperature, rainfall, humidity, solar radiation and wind intensity and direction. Moreover, more than half of Africa's radar stations are unable to produce accurate enough data to predict weather patterns for the coming days or even hours, the 2024 Nature article noted.On top of this, the global models used to predict the weather perform poorly in Africa.
"Just developing things in the global North and transferring them to the global South does not work. We need to have ownership and things must be viewed from the African perspective," he said. "This will help make more data available because for you to know where you're going , you need to know where you are coming from," said Victor Ongoma.
Amid the flurry of efforts to close Africa's weather forecasting gaps, it's important not to forget the end users, warn experts, and how they access information and in what languages.
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