Lives and livelihoods depend on accurate forecasts as the weather becomes more extreme.
Move over Godzilla. Tokyo is battling another threat – guerilla rainstorms. These hyperlocal storms have triggered intense downpours that flood streets, overwhelm drains and shut down train stations.
It is imperative that meteorologists win this race. Lives and livelihoods are depending on them building more accurate models and getting the science of prediction right so that the authorities, businesses and people can plan ahead to mitigate the impacts of severe weather events and inclement weather.
Supercomputers today are capable of running complex simulations of the atmosphere and predicting the weather days or even months into the future. Meanwhile, next-generation satellites can offer enhanced land, ocean and atmospheric monitoring, to track harmful algae blooms, warn of droughts and catch updrafts before they turn into storms.The performance of global short-term weather forecasting models has improved significantly over the years, with more observations and improved scientific understanding of weather systems, an MSS spokesman told me.
By contrast, the weather in temperate regions arises from larger and longer-lived systems, in which changes can be spotted more easily and ahead of time. These weather systems are better understood and simulated by existing weather prediction models, the spokesman said.In this race against the weather, constant surveillance allows us to react quickly. MSS closely monitors our capricious weather and sends out alerts to warn the public of heavy rain and strong winds or heat stress risks.
“The range of weather scenarios that we need to forecast is increasing,” a spokesman for Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said.As the climate warms and the air holds more moisture, what should be typical rain can quickly become more intense. Cyclones that hit popular tourist areas along the coast of Queensland state or the valuable iron ore mines in north-west Western Australia can intensify rapidly and dump devastating amounts of rain.
Forecasts of up to three months can help farmers, miners, aviation, the construction industry and other sectors make contingency plans and undertake serious preparations – for instance, if the weather is likely to be wetter than average or hotter and drier than average.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Super Typhoon Yagi slams into China's Hainan, disrupting lives of millionsHONG KONG: Asia's strongest storm this year, Super Typhoon Yagi, landed in China's Hainan on Friday (Sep 6), bringing violent gales and heavy rain that triggered power outages, p
Read more »
Saving lives in a disaster: Singapore sets up emergency medical team certified by WHOThe team has to be fully self-sufficient when deployed to disaster zones.
Read more »
As cancer claims more young lives, people look to scientific breakthroughs and ‘Blue Zones’Early-onset cancer deaths increased by 27.7 per cent between 1990 and 2019, while an estimated 20 million cases were diagnosed worldwide in 2022, according to a recent study.
Read more »
Chinese Olympic champion Sun Yang wins in first race after 4-year doping banThe three-time Olympic champion said he will “go all out to get it” when asked if he would try and qualify for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Read more »
Chen Xiuhuan was tormented by the ghost of a child in her mum's house for 4 yearsHer mum still lives in that flat in Ang Mo Kio.
Read more »
AI's race for US energy butts up against bitcoin miningU.S. technology companies are pursuing energy assets held by bitcoin miners as they race to secure a shrinking supply of electricity for their rapidly expanding artificial intelligence and cloud computing data centers. Those data centers are driving the fastest U.S.
Read more »