Hamattan Will Not Disrupt Flight Operations – Alilonu

Nigerian Meteorological Agency (MIMET) said despite the setting in of the dust, (hamattan), it will not be so serious as to disrupt or affect flight operations.
The Zonal Meteorological Manager, South South, Mr Benard Ndubuisi Alilonu, who revealed this in Port Harcourt, said the dust will clear in some couple of days, stressing that, the system has not fully established.
Mr Alilonu said we may still experience rain before the end of the year, explaining that as the hamattan (dust), sets in, it does not mean that there will be no rain.
The NIMET boss further explained that the system has not stabilised and that there is full establishment of the high system, the dust (hamatta) can still give way.
He, however, said the full system of the hamattan is in January explained further that that is when we expect the peak, adding that, sometimes, it extends to February.
According to him, the dust usually come with spells, each spell has its own life span, depending on how intense. “The light is not very strong now as to stay longer time. By January, we will expect high spell to fully establish itself. It is the same time we have the “Inter Tropical discontinuity” (ITD) getting to the southern most location. He said, “it is this measure that gives us or tells us how strong the various régimes are”.
The NIMET boss also dismissed the reports that it is difficult to differentiate rain and dry seasons in the South-South part of Nigeria, explaining that, by climatology, the rains are supposed to end by November, adding that, the system that usually establish the dust is still not very strong.
“Yes we have dust, spell but we should not close our eyes and feel that the rain has gone completely,” he said.
He said aviation industry has no cause to worry, adding that, the problem the industry may have is that the morning hours usually will come with thick moisture and advised the public that the early morning temperature will be cooler than it used to be. But generally, we said no cause for alarm.