New Weather Forecasting Model Could Predict Drought in Africa
The Met Office has created a highly-accurate new weather forecasting model that could bring huge relief to one of the driest regions in the world.
Humanitarian groups welcomed the new model for the Sahel region of Africa which can predict rainfall patterns and provide an early warning system for drought so they can take steps to curb the damage.
The Sahel region is a 600 mile wide strip of land that runs 3,300 miles across the southern edge of the Sahara desert from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea and takes in parts or all of more than a dozen countries.
These include Senegal, Mali, Algeria, Nigeria and, most famously Ethiopia where a famine resulting from major droughts in the region during the 1970s and 1980s inspired the Live Aid concerts in 1985.
Tim Cronin/CIFOR