Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP)

SWFDP Regional Subproject in Eastern Africa

(SWFDP-Eastern Africa)

SWFDP Development in Eastern Africa

The Fifteenth Session of World Meteorological Congress (Cg-XV, 2007) noted the significant development and progress of the Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP), from concepts to the first SWFDP regional subproject, implemented in the south-eastern region of Africa in 2006. Further, while noting the importance of accurate and timely severe weather warnings for Members and that if the SWFDP in south-eastern Africa was successful, decided that its concept  should be expanded and implemented throughout RA I (Africa) and to other WMO Regions especially in developing countries. In that regard, Cg-XV requested the CBS to consider the possibility of implementing similar projects in Africa and the South Pacific Islands.

Subsequently, the development of SWFDP in Eastern Africa in RA I (Africa), was started in 2010 initially with participation of six countries (namely Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda) and with support of RSMC Nairobi and RFSC Dar Es Salaam as contributing Regional Centres and UKMO, ECMWF, NOAA/NCEP and DWD as contributing Global Centres. A technical planning workshop on SWFDP development for Eastern Africa was held in Nairobi, Kenya on 4-8 October, 2010. The first meeting of Regional Subproject Management Team (RSMT) was also held in Nairobi, Kenya on 21-24 June, 2011 to review the draft regional subproject implementation plan (RSIP) including timeline for the demonstration phase of the project.

For development and enhancement of the project website (RSMC Nairobi), two NWP/Web Developers Workshops were organized in Nairobi, Kenya during 9-11 May 2011 and 14-16 March 2012. In 2012, WMO SWFDP Expert Missions were carried out to Rwanda (Kigali, 23-25 April, 2012), Burundi (Bujumbura, 4-5 June, 2012) and Uganda (Entebbe, 7-8 June, 2012) to assess the forecasting capacity and service delivery capacity for developing national implementation plans (IPs).

The demonstration (pilot phase) of the project was started in September 2011 with participation of six countries in the region. In May 2013, South Sudan also joined SWFDP-Eastern Africa and the subproject was moved to its full demonstration phase with participation of seven countries in the region in September 2013.

SWFDP training workshops on severe weather forecasting and warning services are also conducted for operational forecasters and public weather services (PWS) staff of the benefitting NMHSs on regular basis. The representaives of users of the host NMHS including especially disaster management offices and media are also invited to attend the SWFDP workshops to improve engagement of NMHSs with users and for better delivery of services. So far, SWFDP training workshops have been organized in Tanzania (2010 & 2011), Uganda (2012), Burundi (2013), Rwanda (2014), Ethiopia (2015) and Kenya (2019).