Rains: NiMet warns airlines, public of thunderstorms, other hazardous weather

By Miriam Humbe, Abuja

With the commencement of the rainy season in parts of the country, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has warned pilots and the public to be wary of thunderstorms and other hazardous weather events.

NiMet, therefore, enjoined pilots/flight crew members to obtain adequate departure, en route, and destination weather information and briefing from NiMet offices prior to flight operations for effective planning in their air navigation operations.

In a statement signed on Saturday by NiMet’s GM/Public Relations, Muntari Yusuf Ibrahim, the Agency said this was in line with the public presentation of the Seasonal Climate Prediction, (SCP) made by the Agency on January 24 this year.

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Ibrahim said: “NiMet predicted rainfall onset to be earlier than the long-term average in most parts of the country during the 2023 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP).

“The onset is expected to start from the coastal states of Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom in early March, progressively followed by the inland states and the Central states.”

The statement said that the recent thunderstorms recorded over parts of the coastal and inland states showed that the Agency’s prediction was on-point, reliable, and accurate.

NiMet therefore cautioned that for areas where thunderstorms were expected, this weather hazard could cause significant disruptions.

This was even as thunderstorms could lead to turbulence, lightning strikes, strong winds, heavy rainfall, down draught, microburst, and hailstones.

NiMet warned that: “All of these pose significant threats to safety of lives and property.

“The effects of thunderstorms are more hazardous to aviation industry, particularly the aircraft operations and passengers.

“Thunderstorms can also cause delays, diversion and cancellations of flights, as aircraft are often grounded in the face of severe weather.”

The Agency assured pilots, the aviation industry and airport users that it had installed weather monitoring systems, thunder detectors, satellite receiving ground-stations and Automatic Weather System (AWS) across the airports (and other stations) nationwide as a measure to mitigate the effects of thunderstorms to the aviation industry.

NiMet said that it had developed a variety of products and services to help track the thunderstorms and its attendant hazards as the Pilot Briefing Rooms were always available for services.

Consequently, NiMet advised all pilots and airline operators to exercise caution during flight operations (during this adverse weather) due to the commencement of the rainy season.

The rains, which were currently prevalent in the Southern parts of Nigeria and occasionally around the Central States, were usually accompanied by severe thunderstorms that were bound to affect air navigation.