By Duncan Mboyah
Kenya will provide daily, weekly, and monthly weather forecasts along with severe-weather cautions as the El Nino season develops, the government announced.
Dr. Deborah Barasa, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, stated that early-warning efforts will intensify ahead of the October–November–December rainy season.
“We are progressively refining the picture through daily, weekly, and monthly forecasts, down to nowcasts and severe-weather warnings as the season unfolds,” Dr. Barasa said.
She said that a wetter-than-normal October–November–December period is anticipated across most of Kenya, bringing prolonged wet spells and isolated heavy storms.
Dr. Barasa revealed that personnel at the Kenya Meteorological Service Authority (KMSA) have structured timely early-warning alerts to keep the public informed.
She emphasized that preparedness and response actions will be executed through a broad network of partners, including national and county governments, the National Disaster Operations Centre, the Kenya Red Cross Society, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Communications Authority of Kenya, and local community networks.
Dr. Barasa noted that the financial tool of extreme weather as a result of climate shocks cost Kenya approximately 2.4 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually.
By comparison, she noted that the devastating 1997–1998 El Nino floods cost an estimated 11 percent of GDP, with transport infrastructure accounting for the majority of the losses.
She urged citizens to follow official KMSA advisories and take prompt precautionary measures, noting that recent investments to modernize the meteorological agency serve as a deliberate strategy to minimize both the human and economic costs of extreme weather.
