Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 30, 2021 (SKNIS): The continued upgrade of human resource capacity and equipment at the St. Kitts Meteorological Department has led to increased efficiency, effectiveness, and reliability in forecasting and recording weather phenomena.
Senior Meteorological Officer, Elmo Burke, said that the ongoing improvements would allow the department to offer more services in the future. One such goal is the ability to exclusively provide the local weather forecast. The department commonly referred to as the Met Office, currently does not have the capacity to do so. As such, it partners with the Antigua and Barbuda Meteorological Services.
“We have started making concerted efforts towards that approach [local forecasts]. … We are nowhere close to that yet but what we have started to do is to put the training in place in terms of the capacity development for the staff,” Mr. Burke stated on the April 28, 2021 edition of the radio and television programme Working for You.
Another goal is to expand the interaction with institutions and the general public.
“Developing all these forecasts but not communicating effectively to our end users is another issue, so again I would like to have a social media footprint,” he stated.
In keeping with public interaction, Mr. Burke said he envisions members of staff providing real-time weather forecasts on radio and television.
As these plans are pursued, the St. Kitts Meteorological Department is receiving assistance from the Caribbean Meteorological Organization (CMO) in developing local legislation to guide its operations. Owing to the colonial setup of regional Met Offices, some member states operate without legislation.
“Legislation would guide you in terms of what is your core mandate, responsibilities, the resources you need, the reporting mechanisms, and so forth,” Mr. Burke expressed, as he welcomed the contributions of the CMO in reviewing and developing draft legislation in this regard.
The senior met officer further expressed a desire to see the St. Kitts Met Office and the Nevis Met Office merge as one entity.
“Regionally, no one thinks of us as two Met Services. They look at us as two offices, but there is one Met Service so, we need to regularize that,” Mr. Burke indicated.
The St. Kitts Meteorological Department is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 28, 2021 (SKNIS): The St. Kitts Department of Meteorological Services is celebrating 50 years of service under the theme “Service with Accuracy and Reliability – St. Kitts Meteorological Service at 50,” a theme Elmo Burke, Senior Meteorological (MET) Officer at the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA), described as quite appropriate for the occasion.
“Some of the core tenants in terms of the mandate of the office is to provide accurate information to the general public because the general public, as well as all of our stakeholders, requires as accurate as possible information so that they can make timely interventions to save lives and livelihoods,” said Mr. Burke during the April 28 edition of Working for You.
Mr. Burke noted that the general public must appreciate that weather information disseminated by the MET Office is credible, hence the importance of reliability.
“Also, the information must be reliable. Persons must have a level of confidence in the information that we are going to be sharing with them because we are the authoritative source for weather here in St. Kitts and Nevis,” he said. “As such, we coined this based on our mission statement because we recognize that we need to ensure that we continue to provide service with accuracy and reliability because if you don’t do that you would become obsolete and you won’t be relevant anymore.”
He added that once persons feel the information is not credible they will find alternative sources to get their weather information, especially from foreign sources. According to Mr. Burke, obtaining information from foreign sources and making decisions based on the information received can be very dangerous.
Ray John, Former Meteorological Officer, shared similar sentiments adding that over the years sustainability has become very pronounced.
“It is not just reliability, but it encapsulates the whole idea of sustainability and has always been the authentic source. You don’t want to be the leader of anything, you want to be the authentic authority with respect to the weather,” said Mr. John.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 5, 2020 (St Kitts Meteorological Services ): TROPICAL DEPRESSION 13 WATCH STATEMENT ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES 5:00 AM ECT FRI, AUG 21, 2020
THIS IS FOR ST KITTS AND NEVIS
DEPRESSION APPROACHING THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS.
THE ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE CONTINUES TO CLOSELY MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION 13. THIS SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO STRENGTHEN AND HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME A TROPICAL STORM AND IMPACT THE ISLANDS. GIVEN THE NORMAL UNCERTAINTY IN THE FORECAST TRACK INTENSITY AND SIZE OF THE TROPICAL CYCLONE IT IS STILL NOT CERTAIN WHAT EXACT TROPICAL CYCLONE HAZARD VALUES, IF ANY ARE EXPECTED TO OCCUR ACROSS THE AREA. NOTWITHSTANDING, THE DEPRESSION COULD BE IN THE VICINITY BY LATER TODAY INTO SATURDAY, AS A TROPICAL STORM.
THEREFORE, IT POSES A THREAT TO THE ISLANDS WITH THE POTENTIAL TO CAUSE SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS FROM STORM FORCE WINDS, HIGH SEAS, MINOR STORM SURGES AND MINOR FLOODING. RESIDENTS SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS SYSTEM AND
BE READY TO IMPLEMENT THEIR DISASTER PREPAREDNESS PLANS IF IT BECOMES NECESSARY.
AT 5 AM ECT OR 0900Z THE CENTRE OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION 13 WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 17.8 NORTH, LONGITUDE 58.5 WEST OR ABOUT 240 MILES EAST OF ST KITTS AND NEVIS.
THE DEPRESSION IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST AT 21 MILES PER HOUR AND THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS. ON THE FORECAST TRACK, THE DEPRESSION IS EXPECTED TO MOVE NEAR OR NORTH OF THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS LATER TODAY AND NEAR OR NORTH OF THE BVI ON SATURDAY.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS REMAIN NEAR 35 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS. GRADUAL STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST AND THE DEPRESSION IS LIKELY TO BECOME A TROPICAL STORM OVER THE WEEKEND.
THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1008 MB OR 29.77 INCHES.
ON ITS PRESENT FORECAST TRACK, THE SYSTEM WILL MOST LIKELY PASS NEAR TO OR NORTH OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS AND THIS SHOULD RESULT IN MORE DANGEROUS WINDS STAYING AWAY FROM THE ISLAND.
HOWEVER, ANY SHIFT IN THE TRACK TO THE SOUTH COULD BRING THE SYSTEM CLOSER TO THE AREA LATE FRIDAY.
TO BE SAFE PLANS AND PREPARATIONS SHOULD BE FOR THE REASONABLE WORST-CASE SCENARIO OF THE DEPRESSION IMPACTING AREA. THE SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO CAUSE LIMITED DAMAGE, POSSIBLE POWER OUTAGE AND DISRUPTION TO TRAVEL. A WARNING MAY BECOME NECESSARY LATER TODAY.
REPEATING THE 5:00 AM ECT POSITION, 17.8 N, 58.5 W. MOVEMENT TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 21 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 35 MPH. THE MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1008MB.
THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE AT A LATER TIME.
FORECASTER BERNELL SIMO