By Ignatius Ushie
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NiMet has alerted the public on the possibility of some northern cities in Nigeria to experience dust haze which can affect horizontal visibility adversely.
According to a Press Release from the agency and made available to Transport Day in Abuja, the weather reports monitored indicates that “Stations in Niger (Maradi, Goure, Maine-Soroa, Agadez, Zinder and 61091) and Chad (Faya-Largeau) have reported Dust-Haze with poor horizontal visibility.
Strong winds at 800m is expected to transport the dust to the country, particularly the North and North-central regions, in the next few hours”. It read.
The release further disclosed that satellite images obtained indicates that In the next 24 hours, there are high prospects of THICK DUST HAZE (poor horizontal visibility, 1000m) over Katsina, Zamfara, Kano, Kaduna, Yobe and Jigawa; while other northern states are expected to report MODERATE DUST-HAZE (visibility of 2–5km).
NiMet expects that this weather condition is expected to persist for the next 3 days and that Day-Time Temperature (Max) is expected to fall as a result of this plume of dust coming into the country.
“In view of this, members of the public are advised to take necessary precautions due to dust particles presently in suspension over the atmosphere. Also, Individuals with respiratory ailments are advised to protect themselves as the current weather condition is not good for their health”.
The agency also disclosed that Night-time cold temperatures should be expected, hence warm clothes are advised for little children.
Airline operators are also advised to avail themselves of weather reports from NiMet for effective planning in their operations.
NiMet assures continuous monitoring of the weather and will keep Nigerians informed of any further changes.
