The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has alerted seven northern states to anticipate poor visibility due to approaching dust haze within the next 24 hours.

The warning is contained in a release by the agency yesterday titled: “Alerts on approaching dust haze”.

According to the release by the General Manager of Public Relations of the agency, Yusuf Ibrahim, the states likely to be affected are; Katsina, Kano, Yobe (Nguru, Potiskum) Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, and Borno (Maiduguri).

The statement reads: “The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NiMet), has alerted the public on the possibility of approaching thick dust hazes that can lead to deterioration of horizontal visibility within the next 24 hours. The Inter-Tropical Discontinuity (ITD) (currently at about 9.60N Lat) is expected to retreat slightly Southwards in the next 24hrs. Winds over 10m and 925hPa (700m) are favourable for dust-haze propagations into the Northern parts of the country.

“Stations in the source region (Sahara Desert) from Chad (Faya-Largeau, Bol-Berim, Mongo, Abeche and Ndjamena) and sources from Niger, that shares border with Northern Nigeria (Diffa, Maine-Soroa, Goure, Bila, Maradi, Zinder and Birni-n-Konni), have been reporting dust-haze in poor horizontal visibility between 300m and 5000m in the last 24hrs.

“Due to strong winds, the dust in suspension is expected to propagate to some states in the northern part of the country.

“This is expected to further deteriorate horizontal visibility over the northern parts of the country, especially over Katsina, Kano, Yobe (Nguru, Potiskum) Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, and Borno (Maiduguri) in the next 24hours.”

The agency advised members of the public to take necessary precautions due to dust particles presently in suspension over the atmosphere.

It added that people with asthma and other respiratory issues should be cautious of the present weather situations.

NiMet while calling on airline operators to get updated weather reports from NiMet for effective planning in their operations added that it will continue to monitor the weather and provide updates when necessary. (The Nation)

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