News

Fiji heading into a meteorological drought

August 29, 2018 8:13 pm

The pro-longed dry spell is set to continue over the next three months with some areas in the North and West experiencing 40 to 60 days consecutively with little to no rainfall.

Fiji Meteorological Services Director – Ravind Kumar says there are already signs that some parts of the country are heading into a drought situation.

“We are moving towards a meteorological drought situation and with information consolidated at the end of this month, we’ll clearly show with some of the sites they’re already moving into the drought, meteorological drought.”

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Kumar adds that the forecast from August through to October is for less than average to average rainfall which is expected acerbate an already extended dry spell.

The Director explains that there are several types of droughts with Fiji heading into the first phase.

“First one is the meteorological drought, the other one is the Agricultural and the third one is the Hydrological and then we will start feeling the necessary economic impacts on that so therefore at the moment, the signs of that are we are moving into the meteorological drought conditions.”

The National Disaster Management Office is currently monitoring the weather situation to determine the next steps.

Attempts to get a comment from the Water Authority of Fiji on what the meteorological drought would be mean for its services was futile.