Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP)

SWFDP Regional Subproject in West Africa

(SWFDP-West Africa)

 SWFDP Development in West 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. Noting the importance of accurate and timely severe weather warnings for Members and subject to success of the SWFDP in south-eastern Africa, the Cg-XV also decided that its concept  should be expanded and implemented throughout RA I (Africa) and to other WMO Regions especially in developing countries. Subsequently, after the successful demonstration of the SWFDP in south-eastern Africa and based on request by the Meteorological Association of Southern Africa (MASA), it was expanded to  include all 16 countries in the sub-region in 2008. Later, development of SWFDP in Eastern Africa was also initiated in 2010.

In February 2015, the RA I (Africa), at its sixteenth session (Praia, Cabo Verde), requested the Secretary-General and the Commission for Basic Systems (CBS) to consider expanding the severe weather forecasting programme to the rest of Africa, starting with West Africa. Accordingly, WMO Secretariat, with seed funding from Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), initiated the process to respond to the regional requirements. For this purpose, in May 2015, a mission to Senegal Meteorological Service (ANACIM) was carried out to gather information on  operational capacity of ANACIM and to discuss how the RSMC Dakar could further benefit from the SWFDP and play its role within the Project.  Later, in November 2015, a technical workshop on severe weather forecasting and warning services in Western and Central Africa was organized with following main objectives:

• to understand operational capabilities of countries in the sub-region in preparing and delivering forecasts and warnings;
• to train the participants on the use of severe weather forecasting products and public weather services; and
• to develop outline of the implementation plan.

The development of project website was initiated by RSMC Dakar in 2016. In September 2017, a technical Planning meeting on the implementation of SWFDP in West Africa was organized in Abidjan, Ivory Coast to develop first draft of the regional subproject implementation plan (RSIP). The meeting was attended by representatives of NMHSs from nine countries in the sub-region in addition to attendance and contributions by potential global and regional centres.  The preparatory work by the global centres to make available NWP products including EPSgrams and enhancement of project website at RSMC Dakar continued in 2018. A regional training workshop was organized in Lome, Togo in November 2018 to develop capacity of operational staff on interpretation of NWP products and satellite information to improve severe weather forecasting and warning services, and to train the NMHSs to prepare for demonstration phase. The workshop was attended by operational staff from all 15 participating countries. The demonstration phase of the subproject was started from 1 January 2019.