Home News More in this Category! TMA explains Dar heat wave CHARLES KIZIGHA Daily News; Tuesday,October 28, 2008 @00:02 Also in the News Ngorongoro to build visitors' centre TCRA consumer council soothes GTV customers Serengeti tobacco farmers to get 1.6bn/- JK denounces military coups NIC restructuring takes off Prisons facility caters for children, says Kagasheki Private hospitals told to follow govt orders Loss of life solace by wild animals reaches 1m/- Govt pledges to boost TIB's capital Security guards urged to protect albinos The temperature in Dar es Salaam last week reached 34.7 degrees centigrade, making people experience unprecedented heat for three days, a senior official with the meteorology agency said yesterday. The Acting Director General of the Tanzania Meteorology Agency (TMA), Mr Philbert Tibaijuka, said the temperature was due to cessation of short rains which started last month. He said October was supposed to be a rainy month in coastal areas which cover Dar es Salaam, but the sky was clear and got maximum radiation from the sun, a factor that pushed up temperature. Tanga recorded 34.4 degrees centigrade during the same period and Zanzibar registered 34.5 degrees centigrade yesterday. Mr Tibaijuka said the short rains which ought to have started in September in northern coastal areas; northern easterly and Lake Victoria Basin and end in December were now on course after a short spell in some of those areas. He said people living on low grounds especially in northern coastal areas (Dar es Salaam, Coast regions, Zanzibar, Pemba and Morogoro north) should move to higher grounds because of expected floods since the rains would be pretty steady. North eastern areas cover Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Manyara regions, while the Lake Victoria Basin includes Mara, Mwanza, Kagera north of Kigoma and Tabora Regions. He said farmers in the short rains pattern areas who have not planted for the season should do that now because according to the forecast, the rains would be reliable. Mr Tibaijuka said coastal areas received rains on the second week of last month followed by a prolonged dry spell during which the meteorological stations within the area never reported any rainfall. The dry spell caused by two tropical disturbances which have now disappeared paving way for the short rains included the central Indian Ocean, north east of Madagascar (known as Asma) which prevailed between September 18 and October 24. He explained that the second unnamed disturbance developed during the same period over the Arabian Sea off the Horn of Africa near Somali coast which hit Yemen. The two disturbances which were unseasonal distorted the weather system in Tanzania particularly the Indian Ocean. By 9 am yesterday Julius Nyerere International Airport had registered 51 mm of rainfall, Dar es Salaam Port (26 mm), Kibaha (38mm), Zanzibar, Tanga and Handeni reported less than 10 mm.   COMMENTS ON THE STORY     Comment on the story Please Send us your comments or views on the story above First Name: Last name: Email: Country Comment: