The three regions of northern Ghana have 75 per cent chance of getting normal rain this year without floods, but with the likelihood of dry spells. The dry spells most likely would occur in May and August and last for about one to two weeks.
Charles Yorke, Research Director of the Ghana Meteorological Services (GMET) announced this at a meeting of farmers, assembly members, community representatives and other stakeholders in agriculture, held at Gambaga in the Northern Region on Wednesday.
The two-day participatory scenario planning (PSP) meeting organized by Adaptation Learning Program (ALP), Ghana, under CARE International, was aimed at developing advisories based on the anticipated weather scenario for more resilient livelihoods and risk management in the communities.
Mr. Yorke said the rains this year would generally be accompanied by strong winds and would start in April and end in October. He noted that the rainfall pattern would be like that of 2005.
He explained that the rains would not start on the same day in all the regions, but a total rainfall of 20mm in one week with one of the rains reading up to 10mm was an indication that the rainy season had started. Likewise when the rains stop for 10 days in October, then that would be a sign of the end of the season.
He then advised farmers not to hold or use cutlasses when it is raining or seek shelter under trees as the electric charge around trees during such times could easily attract lightning.
Earlier on, the farmers, discussing the local forecast based on age-long beliefs, said the rains would be moderate but could not agree on whether there would be strong winds or not.
Such beliefs include the fruiting of the shea nut and “Sibisibi” or local berry trees, whereby heavy fruiting is widely believed to indicate heavy rains.
Also, when birds that nest near river banks suddenly start building their nest high up in the trees, it indicates the onset of heavy rains.
