The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) has alerted the general public, individuals with respiratory ailments and airline operators on the possibility of decline in visibility as a result of observed dust haze propagated into the country from the source region.
A release signed by General Manager, Public Relations, NIME, Muntari Yusuf Ibrahim declared: “the weather reports from the country, indicate the approximate position of Inter-Tropical Discontinuity (ITD). Winds at 10 meters and 800 meters (925hPa) above the ground surface indicate favourable conditions for further Dust-Haze propagations into the nation, which will worsen horizontal visibility”.
The release further stated that observation from the source region indicates that “Niger (Maine-Soroa, Goure, Maradi, N-guigmi, Diffa, 61091, Bila and Agadez) and Chad (Faya-Largeau and Ndjamena) have both reported Dust-Haze with poor horizontal visibility”.
NiMET, while envisaging that in the next few hours, strong winds at 800m will spread more dust into the country thus, causing deterioration in horizontal visibility, further revealed that in the next 24 hours, there are prospects of thick dust haze (In poor horizontal visibility, less than1000m) over Katsina, Kano, Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Borno, Adamawa, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi and Kaduna states; while North Central states are expected to report moderate dust-haze (visibility of 2–5km).
While this weather condition according to NIMET is expected to persist for the next 72 hours, the agency therefore advised members of the public to take necessary precautions due to dust particles presently in suspension over the atmosphere.
Also, individuals with respiratory ailments have been advised to protect themselves as the current weather condition is not good for their health. According to the agency, night-time cold temperatures should be expected, adding that warm clothes are advised for little children.
Equally, airline operators are advised to avail themselves of weather reports from NiMet for effective planning in their operations even as the agency assured that it’s Central Forecast Office (CFO) will continue to monitor the weather and provide updates when necessary.
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