Africa-Press – Botswana. Lobatse is served by an automatic weather station in Goodhope, which provides weather information on farming activities in Borolong area.
Answering a question in Parliament recently on behalf of the Minister of Environment and Tourism, the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Major General Pius Mokgware explained that in Lobatse, only manual rainfall stations were placed at the Lobatse and Woodhall police stations.
He said that although it was desirable to have a denser meteorological observational network because weather could be affected by factors such as terrain, it must be noted that due to financial constraints and the geographical location of Lobatse with respect to the nearest station in Good Hope, Lobatse has not been upgraded to a station with the ability to measure all weather parameters.
Maj. Gen. Mokgware said according to the World Meteorological Organisation, stations must be located at most 150 kilometers apart and this requirement is met for Lobatse, which is about 44 kilometers away from Good Hope.
He explained that the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, through the Department of Meteorological Services, had established a network of meteorological stations consisting of 28 Automatic Weather Stations, four Automatic Weather Observing Systems, 106 Automatic Rain Gauges, over 500 manual rainfall stations, and a Remote Sensing Unit.
The aim of the network, he said, is to observe, analyse, and predict weather and climate to be used for policy-making decisions and planning in the climate-sensitive sectors of the economy, as well as manage risk arising from climate variability and climate change.
Maj. Gen. Mokgware said key considerations for the placement of meteorological stations are that the stations should be representative of various localities and provide an overview of weather affecting the specific area. He was responding to a question from Lobatse MP Mr Kamal Jacobs who had asked the minister whether he is aware of the need to establish a weather or meteorological station in Lobatse.
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