"How Rain Patterns For Samoa Are Projected"
Local Infront of the NPF Building on a rainy day.
Photo: Anetone Sagaga / Eyespyradio 87.5FM
The Samoa Meteorology Office is collaborating with a variety of both public and private sectors to put the extreme effects of rainfall monitoring into practice and to clarify drought predictions for the next three months in specific locations of Samoa.
A workshop that was conducted at Taumeasina Island Resort provided an emerging picture of distortions in the total amount of rainwater that both Savaii and Upolu should expect in the near future by following , included in their data analysis were rainfall and drought observations in previous months as well.
"The weather information we are discussing here, is about impacts of different time scales at the sectoral level , meaning that droughts are defined differently for each sector, and the Samoa Meteorology is triggering various types of drought impacts and how the information can be thoroughly put out to the public in a simple and understandable manner" stated one of Samoa's weather analyst Mr.Kotoni Faasau.
In an interview with the ACEO for the Samoa Meteorology Office, Afaese Luteru Tauvale stated that the main goal is to inform the community of Samoa with accurate information that their office collected during their data analysis in hopes that the end user will understand fully on how rainfall and droughts could affect Samoa.
"A product produced 5years ago by the Samoa Met Office in rainfall analysis underwent a lot of changes , and one of the improvements that we wish to see is the impacts. This is why we are here having these discussions. " stated Afaese.
According to Afaese he stated that these sectors have different takes on these impacts and could confuse end users or the community. For example, a three month drought for a water sector is different from how an agriculture sector may see it..."and the goal here is to have a more defined impact that can inform all sectors and also Samoa" he told EyeSpy.
Dr Simon McGree of the Technical Science Lead COSPPac in Australia attended the stakeholder workshop and stated that the importance of the Early Action Rainfall Watch (EAR Watch) for the community and especially in the Disaster Management sector can really boost accurate and simple manner information.
"It helps the Samoa Meteorology Office provide the Disaster Management with information along the line when an extreme weather variant is occurring in Samoa" stated the delegate from Australia.
The Samoa Meteorology Office in this workshop has revealed results of Samoa's rainfall action for May to July this year stating that both Upolu and Savaii should expect Low Chance of Very Wet or Very Dry for the season May to July.
The Samoa Meteorology Office's product called the Early Action Rainfall Watch (EAR Watch), which was introduced five years ago, has given disaster management an overview of current rainfall patterns, particularly drought, and the rainfall projection for the following months.