Haze expected on Friday – NiMet
By Sumaila Ogbaje
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), has predicted smog over the central states of the country on Friday.
NiMet made the prediction in the Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office in Abuja on Thursday.
It stated the region would have day and night temperatures of 28 to 34 degrees Celsius and 9 to 20 degrees Celsius respectively.
The agency predicted that the southern states would experience dusts with localised visibility of less than or equal to 2,000 metres in the next 24 hours.
It also predicted day and night time temperatures of 32 to 34 degrees Celsius and 17 to 22 degrees Celsius respectively during the period.
As stated by NiMet, northern states will experience haze with the exception of Sokoto, Katsina and Gusau axis that are likely to experience moderate haze throughout the period.
“The region will have day and night temperatures of 25 to 30 degrees Celsius and 13 to 17 degrees Celsius respectively.
“Dust is expected over the entire country within the next 24 hours”, NiMet predicted.
NiMet had predicted moderate to thick dust haze conditions over the central states on Wednesday with horizontal visibilities less than 1000m over Abuja, Bida, Zaria .
It explained that the region would have day and night temperature of 31 to 33 degrees Celsius and 8 to 20 degrees Celsius respectively.
The NAN reports that Presidency on Thursday stated President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Bauchi, scheduled for Dec. 29, had been postponed due to prevailing weather conditions
Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President attributed it to bad weather conditions experienced at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Thursday morning.
He stated the condition prevented the take-off of the President’s plane for the trip to Bauchi.
“Uncooperative weather, which has been the bane of air travel in the current harmattan season leading to delay and cancellation of flights, reared its head in Abuja Airport this morning, preventing the take-off of the President’s plane for the trip to Bauchi.
“Technical information received from the weather station showed that visibility as at this morning was 600 meters, 200 metres short of the 800 metres minimally required for a safe aircraft take-off.
“As stated by the information available, the visibility was expected to drop to 300 metres before improving to permissible limit later in the day.
“The commander of the Presidential Air Fleet, Air Commodore Hassan Abubakar, stated that the Presidential Aircraft was in perfect condition, the weather in Bauchi was alright, but that the problem was in Abuja,” Shehu stated.
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