Improving the accuracy of essential African weather forecasts

A comprehensive new handbook about weather forecasting in West Africa could help safeguard lives and resources in the region. Meteorology of Tropical West Africa: The Forecasters' Handbook was coordinated by the University of Leeds in collaboration with international researchers and meteorological agencies to help the region’s weather forecasters. It results from the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA), the biggest research programme into African weather and climate ever conducted. The handbook includes theory, weather forecasting methods, and case studies of West African weather systems. It follows 15 years of collaborative international research.

Handbook editor and coordinator, Professor Douglas Parker a meteorologist at Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment and CDT in Fluid Dynamics co-Director, said: “Accurate weather forecasts are essential for early warning systems that can protect lives, property, and water and food resources. The handbook is the first time any global region has produced a definitive document for forecasting. “Not only is this handbook a way for new research to be brought rapidly into practice it represents an international effort to disseminate important information to a region that has been neglected in the past.”

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