The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) has alerted Ghanaians to brace themselves for an intense Harmattan season. The season, characterized by dry and dusty winds, has been attributed to the arrival of a dry continental wind in the country.
A Senior Meteorologist at the Agency, Frederick Cudjoe, while engaging the media noted that the dry season will last the entire month, hence the need for the general public to take up some safety precautions such as wearing nose masks in order to safeguard their respiratory systems from harmful particles.
“And then also since we will be having those particles in the atmosphere, we advise that maybe we can be putting on our nose masks during this period to avoid taking in a lot of that particle into our respiratory systems because we are realising that we have the dry continental wind invading our country, and we expect this condition to last, especially for the entire period of December right from now to the end of December which will mean that we are going to be getting a lot of this dryness coming from the Sahara and the Sahel regions into our country.”
“And then also the dust conditions will be accompanied by winds which are coming from the northern part of the continent into our country,” he said.
He also emphasized the importance of taking necessary precautions to prevent accidents, particularly road carnages, during this period.
“We advise that when visibility becomes very poor especially early in the morning and then at dawn, motorists should take necessary precautions, especially by using their fog lights and also driving within the speed limit. Also, people who go to farms, we advise that they take the necessary precautions to prevent any fire outbreak.”
The harmattan season was predominantly observed by many on Monday, December 11, as they came on social media to share their various experiences and challenges.