Latest update December 18th, 2024 1:55 AM
Guyana’s weather is not unusual
The odd weather patterns that Guyanese have been observing for the better part of this year are apparently not that out of the ordinary, according to Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud.
Persaud said that while the weather over this past year has been decidedly different from what is normally expected, the current weather patterns are quite normal from a climatological perspective.
He said, “There is a strong correlation between long term (30-year) rainfall averages and the rainfall quantities currently being observed.”
The opinion raised by some experts is that some of the ‘odd weather’ Guyana has been experiencing cannot be attributed to climate change but instead may actually be part of a long term weather cycle of several decades.
At the beginning of the year the country was firmly in the grip of El Nino. Crops were being lost, water levels dropped, brush fires sprang up, the city dumps were catching fire on a regular basis and the water levels in the conservancy dropped to precarious lows.
Then at the beginning of April the pattern suddenly turned upside down and intense rains began falling – the Ministry announced that the rainfall over the early days of April were actually in excess of the thirty-year averages on record. Flooding was suddenly the latest concern.
Where there would normally be two rainy seasons – one from May to July and the other from November to December, this year saw the seasons being much less defined with reference to the time spans of these seasons as well as showing rapid changes from one extreme to the next with some days being very hot and dry while the next could be very cold and rainy.
Persaud weighed in on the variations in the weather patterns by pointing out that “La Nina continues to be moderate to strong as sea surface temperatures in the Tropical Pacific continues to decrease.”
He noted that “the above average rainfall that accompanies La Nina is currently being suppressed due to a very active hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean which has resulted in a reduction of moisture for rainfall activity over Guyana.”
So what kind of weather can Guyana expect over the next few weeks? The Minister noted that similar weather conditions to those experienced thus far in the last month will continue and as the hurricane season wraps up, Guyana’s secondary rainfall season will begin some time around mid-November. This should bring with it an increase in rainfall activity – an increase that when coupled with La Nina activities will line up Guyanese for some very wet weather.
Asked how the weather has been affecting the agricultural community, Minister Persaud said, “Throughout the first quarter of 2010 and early in the second, Guyana experienced below normal rainfall conditions due to a strong El Nino influence. As a result, the agriculture sector was challenged due to the lack of water for crop irrigation and livestock rearing.
“Due to pro activism, damage was limited and we saw increased output instead, contrary to what took place in other El Nino affected states.”
Persaud went on, “It is expected that with the onset of La Nina for the latter part of 2010 and the first quarter of 2011 there will be above normal rainfall. As a result, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and other sister agencies have increased their activities to ensure that all the necessary drainage systems are at optimum maintenance and storage capacities to allow for the collection, storage and transport of excessive surface runoff resulting from an active rainy season.”
He did include a warning, however, that some low-lying areas may be prone to some flash flooding when the rains arrive in full force.
Weather warnings should not be a problem for the Hydrometeorological Office either, since a little over a year ago the Office commissioned a $700M Doppler Radar system at the station at Timehri to replace the old system which was over 30 years old and had already become obsolete. The Doppler Radar, built in Germany, has a 400-kilometer range that will allow it to be linked digitally to other radar stations in the region. Information and satellite data will be exchanged with the other weather stations, giving our local forecasters real-time information to work with, allowing them to more accurately predict severe weather patterns.
And earlier last month, the Ministry began sending out brief weather advisories as SMS Text messages in an effort to make sure that more Guyanese are kept up to date.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The oil industry is a casino of cash, power and corruption
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- According to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in her book, Blowout: “The oil and gas industry... more
Let the asylum seekers go: a first step for Venezuela to rebuild relations in the Americas
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – The government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela has steadfast support from many... more
Weekend Cartoon
