The worst of the harmattan season is yet to come; be cautious with your speed — GMA warn motorists

The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA) has cautioned motorists as the harmattan season intensifies, warning that the worst is yet to come.

Joseph Portuphy, the Head of Forecasting at the Agency highlighted the need for drivers to exercise caution and adopt safe driving practices during this period.

Mr. Portuphy stated, "The worst of the season is yet to come. This is just the preliminaries because visibility has not dropped yet. We will get to a time when visibility will drop to 700 meters, so drivers must be very cautious.

“We expect a lot of fog in the morning, and when you get fog, you cannot see ahead of you. So, this is the time we should be using our fog lights in the morning and also reduce your speed so that when there is an object ahead of you, you can easily avoid it."

Frederick Cudjoe, a Senior Meteorologist, echoed the warnings, urging Ghanaians to take necessary precautions to prevent accidents during this season.

He advised, "We advise that when visibility becomes very poor, especially early in the morning and at dawn, motorists should take necessary precautions, especially by using their fog lights and also driving within the speed limit."

Mr Cudjoe also emphasized the need for farmers to exercise caution to prevent fire outbreaks.

He added, "Since we will be having those particles in the atmosphere, we advise that maybe we can be putting on our nose masks during this period to avoid taking in a lot of that particle into our respiratory systems because we are realizing that we have the dry continental wind invading our country."

The meteorologist explained that the dryness is expected to persist throughout December, with the dry continental wind carrying dust particles from the Sahara and Sahel regions into the country.

He concluded, "The dust conditions will be accompanied by winds coming from the northern part of the continent into our country."