Recently Zimbabwe has been experiencing a wave of high temperatures and many people have been questioning if the change in temperatures is an effect of global warming. The month of October saw temperatures soaring and has been recorded as the hottest month in a period of fifty years. This situation is not only being experienced in Zimbabwe only but also in neighbouring countries. Other parts of the world are even experiencing severe catastrophes like floods and drought – luckily here its just the heat.  What really caught my attention about this subject recently when I was reading an article in the Herald is the fact that the Meteorological Services Department director acknowledged the change in temperatures but played it down to just a passing phase with nothing to do with global warming. I am not a weather expect but the weatherman’s forecast leaves a lot of questions to be asked especially on the part that the high temperatures are extraordinary.  We are in summer and traditionally most areas in this country should have recorded their first rains but still the weather service department has not been giving satisfactory forecasts.  Maybe our weather department needs to put those little planes back in the skies and do cloud seeding. Its also a matter of looking at both sides because our Met office needs to move along with new advancements in technologies when they do their work.

The change in rainy season patterns and cold winters experienced this year clearly show that something is really happening to the weather. Though small in effect as compared to the gases produced from the first world countries this country has experienced its fair share of deforestation due to the unavailability of electricity from ZESA.

Those who are experiencing the real global warming also started by calling it a passing phase just like what our own weathermen are calling it. If global warming is affecting other countries what makes our official from Meteorological Services Department think that Zimbabwe is not going to be affected?

This entry was posted on November 1st, 2011 at 11:49 am by Lenard Kamwendo and is filed under Reflections, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.