Status of the implementation SWFDP in South Sudan Submitted by : PAULINO OMOJ OMAY Weather forecast section, South Sudan meteorological service

This presentation describes the status of the Implementation of the SWFDP,the status of severe weather forecasting and the means of disseminating forecasts and warnings information for the benefit of the general public &socio­economic sectors in South Sudan

 South Sudan Meteorological Service (SSMS) was formed in 9 th July, 2011 as a result of the independence. And become member in WMO in December 2012  The young Met. service is a governmental Institution which falls under the Ministry of Transport.  After our separation on 9/7/2011, the department of meteorology in the new borne Republic of South Sudan has to start from nothing (zero), because all our meteorological working instruments and weather forecast we get them from old republic of Sudan.

 Previously South Sudan had 7 Surface Meteorological stations distributed as follow:  Agro met station in Renk, Northern Upper Nile State,  Irrigational stations which included:  a. Raja, in Western Bhar El Ghazal State.  b. Bentiu in Unity State. not working now  c. Rumbek in Lakes State. not working now  Synoptic stations  a. Juba Met Station in Central Equatorial.  b. Malakal Met Station in central Upper Nile State.  c. Wau Met Station in Western Bhar Ghezal State.  At present there are only five(5) Synoptic stations are working i.e. Juba, Malakal,Wau, Raja and Renk.

 Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda Tanzania, Uganda.The six (6) participating countries in the SWFDP - Eastern Africa project. THIRD EASTERN AFRICA REGIONAL TRAINING ON SEVERE WEATHER FORECASTING AND WARNING SERVICES 19 – 30 NOVEMBER 2012 ENTEBBE,  since last worship ،، THIRD EASTERN AFRICA REGIONAL TRAINING ON SEVERE WEATHER FORECASTING AND WARNING SERVICES ،، 19 – 30 NOVEMBER 2012, ENTEBBE, South Sudan become number(7) in the SWFDP - Eastern Africa project.  This meeting is the first time for South Sudan Meteorological Service (SSMS) to participate in Regional Subproject Management Team (RSMT) meeting

Aspiring to become a Scientific Department capable of providing accurate and timely weather information and climate data to users and decision makers, for Socio- economic Growth and Development

 According to the recommendations of the CBS-XIII (2005) the goals of the SWFDP were defined by SWFDP Steering Group in Geneva (14-16 December 2005) as follows:  to improve the ability of NMCs to forecast severe weather events.  to improve the lead time of alerting of these events.  to improve interaction of NMCs with DMCPA before and during events.  to identify gaps and areas for improvements.  to improve the skill of products from GDPFS centers through feedback from NMCs.

 South Sudan Meteorological Service(SSMS) does not run any Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Model.  Forecasters prepares forecasts based on surface observations stations and products from global centers.  Weather forecasting section have a good internet connectivity which makes it possible to access weather forecast websites and International Meteorological Centers websites which enables the access to NWP products from global centers, including NOAA/NCEP, ECMWF, UK.Met, … etc.  these products are used for improving forecasts and warnings of severe weather in the country.

 South Sudan is impacted by a number of severe weather and extreme events, some of them are as follows:  Rainstorms, heavy thunderstorms accompanied by Strong wind and lightening in most parts of country  heavy dust storms in northern parts of country(EL Renk, Aweil, Raja )  Floods  Drought or Dry Spells south eastern parts(kapoeta)  South Sudan Meteorological Service issuing warnings of heavy rain when rainfall amount>30mm and of drought if the amount of rainfall expected to occur is much below normal for an extended period 15 days, strong wind >25kts

 To improve the ability of NMCs to forecast severe weather events:  -The Deterministic, probabilistic and EPS from MOGREPS, Products from ECMWF, RSMC- PRETORIA UM-SA12, RSMC-Nairobi COSMO, UK-MET and NCEP have continued to assist forecasters in their Daily weather forecasting including severe weather events  -Forecasters are accustomed to work with outputs from different models and found all guidance products posted on RSMC-Nairobi web portal quite useful.  To improve the interaction of NMHSs with DMCPAs before, during and after severe Weather events:  Generally the interaction between South Sudan Meteorological service (SSMS) with DMCPAs before, during and after severe Weather events still forcing many problems, i.e. the coordination has been poor.  To improve the lead-time of alerting these events:  The available SWFDP Eastern Africa products assisted the forecasters to predict likelihood of occurrences of heavy precipitation and strong winds with better confidence and lead time. These include guidance products from RSMC Nairobi (for day 1 to day5) and NWP products form ECMWF, UK-MET and NCEP.  To identify gaps and areas for improvements:  Need to establish strong communication between Authorities involved in Early Warning and Disaster Management. Poor existing linkage need to be strengthened and improved.

 SOCIO-ECONOMIC SECTORS at present time they are Benefit from our service  Aviation, public, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Ministry Environmental, and the Disaster Management and Civil Protection Authority), and international agencies such as Unite d Nation Mission in south Sudan (UNMISS), and World Food Programme (WFP)  SOCIO-ECONOMIC SECTORS at present time they are not benefit from our service  Decision Makers and Policy Makers within Government Land Transportation, Fisheries,Education and Energy,Water Resources Management,Health,Tourism, Financial Sector and Construction Industry, Management of the Urban Environment, Land and Urban Planning.

 South Sudan has not yet set up a consolidated public weather service and strategic frameworks that streamlines disaster risk reduction and management strategies into sustainable development programmes.  Weather services delivery to the public and other stockholders in south Sudan is Limited and not sufficient.  Currently, SSMS issuing on daily weather forecast and Delivery to the Public and other socio-economic sectors via, s, TV,we sometimes cannot be able to disseminate these information to users,due to lack of essential meteorological communication networks in our country.  It is also important to note that the south Sudan does not have yet a studio for Television presentation even national TV can not able to disseminate severe weather and warnings which would enhance weather information dissemination to users.(TV working hours 5 pm- 09:30 pm)

 Lack of essential meteorological communication networks to the regional distribution and international centers i.e. AFTN, GIT.  Lack of Telecommunication link between weather forecast section in Juba and MET.offices in the states.  Difficulty in delivery of early warnings information for disaster Risk Management needed by users due to lack of official Websites and poor coordination with media i.e. Radio, TV, newspaper,mobile phone companies.  Very few meteorological instruments in use.  Lack of surface observation station in most cities.and no upper air observation station across the country

 Full establishment of National Meteorological Service.  Strengthen of database system.  improvement the quality of weather forecast products and services using NWP Models  Establishment of upper air observation stations.  Channels for submitting forecasts and climatologically information.  Installation of advanced technology to disseminate and delivery weather information and severe weather warnings via Television, Radio,mobile phones, Websites and newspaper. Facebook, twitter  Establishment of official website to disseminate and delivery climate data and weather, warnings information to users.

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