Flooding: ‘We need mini supercomputers for future projections’ - Ghana Meteo

The head of Central Analysis and Forecast at the Ghana Meteorological Authority, Mrs Felicity Ahafianyo, has said the Authority need mini supercomputers to enable it conduct accurate future projections for weather forecasting.

Ahafianyo believes that relying solely on current forecasting methods will not effectively address the recurring issue of flooding.

Speaking to TV3 on Monday afternoon, Mrs Ahafianyo highlighted the importance of projecting weather patterns ahead of time to effectively tackle the flooding situation in the cities.

She said, “We’re getting to a point that the ‘now’ forecasting will not solve our flood issue problems. We need to project ahead of time. If I’m able to tell you in a month’s time that Accra is going to flood, then NADMO and the individuals living around these flood-prone areas will also put in their effort.”

To achieve more accurate future projections, Mrs Ahafianyo stressed the need for supercomputers and other logistics to operate effectively.

“...that’s why we keep calling for resources - let more resources come so that we’ll be able to predict. Now, predicting from five to seven days is very accurate but we want to go beyond that. But for us to go beyond that, we need supercomputers to be able to do that,” the Meteorologist explained.

She also revealed that the country may experience a heavy downpour with thunderstorms between Wednesday and Sunday.

“When I checked the model chart, per the projections that we were checking, between Wednesday and Sunday, it’s likely the whole country will be engulfed in a rainstorm. But it’ll start and the peak will come, then it’ll die off. It comes like a wave so when you’re over the amplitude of a wave…you have the rain and thunder, Mrs Ahafianyo stressed.