Yesterday, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency warned pilots to be ready to manage severe turbulence as the onset of the rainy season had commenced in many locations across the country.
The Director-General, NiMet, Mansur Matazu, made the caution at a press briefing in Abuja.
The DG explained that the season would be characterised by electrical charges in the atmosphere that could cause thunderstorms, adding that there would be series of microbursts incidents at airports.
“Microbursts are mini-thunderstorms that emanate from the cloud because of the low temperature of the cloud,” Matazu stated.
“These microbursts which happen around the airports cause windshear problems and that is why we have an alert system by which we issue alerts to pilots through the Air Traffic Controllers.
“Now, the negative implications of these weather issues include the fact that they cause severe turbulence during descent or at certain flying levels.
“You can also experience clear air turbulence and it happens during the onset period of the rainy season.”
He further disclosed that the agency had been issuing weather updates to Air Traffic Controllers at intervals of 30 minutes daily and that the updates were relayed to pilots.5
