by crossriverwatch admin
Early morning rains woke up the people of the ancient city of Calabar on Saturday after the hot weather that has made the citizens uncomfortable for months.
The heavy downpour which is the first in year 2013 was a surprise to many as there were no indications or any signs that it will rain on Saturday morning.
When our reporter moved round the city after the rain which lasted for about 90 minutes, the streets of Calabar were dirty with wreck of trees as refuse were seen on the streets and major roads; an indication that the rain was heavy.
It took the intervention of officers from Calabar Urban Development Agency (CUDA) to sweep and pack all the refuse from the streets and returning them to their usual clean look.
One of the respondents who simply identified himself as Asuquo said the rainfall was a blessing to the people of Calabar.
According to Asuquo, the hot weather witnessed in Calabar lately has been making the people uncomfortable in their homes forcing some people to sleep outside at night.
Meanwhile,the Director-General of the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Dr. Anthony Anuforom in an online statement said that the rainfall recorded in some parts of Nigeria from January 10 till end of January 2013 is not an indication that the rainy season has started.
“What happened is that there is a system that passes over the Mediterranean; there is a low pressure that passed over there that now pulled up the Inter Tropical Discontinuity line (ITD). The weather system in Nigeria is determined by the position of ITD over the country. ITD shows the demarcation between the continental air mark that carries dust and dryness and the maritime air mass that carries a lot of moisture.
“The maritime air mass shifts in from the Atlantic Ocean whereas the continental air mass sweeps across Sahara Desert and where they meet is what we call the ITD. The position of ITD during Harmattan is normally down south around six degrees north. That is what gives us dryness, dust and cold.
“Something happened that the ITD now moved north. By around January 16 it was observed that the ITD has gone as high as 13 degrees north and moisture was being sucked in from the ocean. So, that moisture in that atmosphere was what gave us that rain that fell. It is not permanent, because the ITD will still recede. In the next few days, the ITD will move back southward and you will still see the Harmattan features again,” he said.
Crossriverwatch investigation reveal that rains started falling this year on January 10 in Ilorin and Ikeja while on January 21 it rained in Ondo, Ado Ekiti and Ikeja. On January 22 and 24 it rained in Ijebu Ode, Warri, Abuja, Akure, Ijebu Ode, Jos and on January 26 in Calabar and its environs.
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