Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. THE Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has announced a strategic shift towards life-saving a warning system as it moves to enhance disaster preparedness in the country.
This was revealed by MSD director Rebecca Manzou during the launch of its seasonal climate outlook, predicting normal to above-normal rainfall in the 2025/26 season.
Manzou revealed a new schedule for the forecasts, moving them earlier to better serve the public.
“This is the first time we are doing the upgrade for the system of forecast,” Manzou said.
“We normally give you a forecast in September or October. We give you the upgrade in January, February, but we all take that time to change it, and the focus is better for you.
“As MSD and the rest of the world, we seek to achieve early warning for all by 2027. This is an initiative we started in September 2022. Before then, if MSD were not prepared at all, we would normally go back to tropical cyclones.
“Tropical cyclones, like Cyclone Idai in 2013, are very terrible. It exposed us as a nation. So through MSD, the nation is being prepared.”
Manzou said the strategy depended on collaboration and accessible communication.
“On our own, we cannot reach this. This is why it is so critical that people receive the information in a language that they understand so that they can take action.
“We are going to be looking at all our stakeholders and we are going to be co-producing and what we have talked about will be a reality. In general, when you look from November to January, you can see that the northern
part of the country is normal to above normal.
“The bulk of the country has increased chances of above-normal rainfall. When you look at December to February, you can see that there is an increased chance of normal to above normal rainfall in the country.”
For November to December, Manzou said the temperatures would be warmer than normal conditions that would persist across the country.
“The meteorological practices are not going to continue to monitor all the available seasonal planning indicators; the system’s implementation will be updated every month until the end of the season,” she said.
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