The new weather office on the George Airport grounds is, next to Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, the third largest in the country.
Equipped with the latest technology it offers a 360° view of the landing strip, sea heads and mountains to weather officials who were previously hampered with limited vision whilst working within the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) building.
The Cape South Coast is one of the most dangerous coastlines, as the weather can change within 30 minutes with sea fog blowing in, or a coastal front moving in. Weather technicians will now be able to scrutinise the weather and issue warnings to aircraft, via the Air Traffic Service Unit (ATSU) and to the forecasters in Cape Town. Cape Town needs the information to create airport specific detailed forecasts giving warnings of upcoming storms to the airport and civil aviation authorities.
The building, constructed at a cost of R1,7-million, took five months to complete. The project was undertaken following requests from Acsa officials who foresaw that this would lead to improved aviation safety. The offices are situated to the south-east of the airport building and near the Air Traffic Navigational Service (ARTS) Radar Tower. George Airport Manager Brenda Foster was thanked for the role she played in getting the project underway.
In his keynote address, Eden District Municipality's Deputy Executive Mayor, Councillor Lionel Esau, said the region is prone to flood related problems and that 90 per cent of disasters that occur in the Southern Cape are due to severe weather. "Accurate weather information is therefore essential for Eden District's Disaster Management Centre to prevent loss of lives. It is vital that the Disaster Management Centre is continuously updated on weather patterns and are forewarned by SAWS of storm weather to timeously alert local authorities. The radar will enable us to predict fronts moving in from Cape Town."
Guests, including top brass from SAWS, George Bureau Chief Riaan Cilliers, Gerhard Otto (Eden's Disaster management chief) and pupils from Hibernia Primary School and their teachers were taken on a tour of the offices and shown how the daily data is processed and relayed to Cape Town.
Koot Kamfer, of the George SAWS, shows Eden District Deputy Mayor Lionel Esau how the weather data collected is disseminated.
Head of George SAWS Riaan Cilliers explains how the 360° vision from the top storey over the landing strip at the George Airport is going to improve the accuracy of the information given to the Civil Aviation Authorities.
ARTICLE: PAULINE LOURENS, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
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