The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has recommended pilots and airline operators to exercise caution during the dry season due to hazardous weather conditions.
This warning was featured in a weather release by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) alerting the public to the likelihood of visibility impairment as a result of detected dust haze propagated into the country from the source location.
According to the release, “Winds over 10m and 925hPha are favorable for Dust-Haze propagations into the Northern parts of the country. Stations in the source region, Niger (Goure, Zinder, Maine-Soroa, Diffa, N-Guigmi and 61091 and horizontal visibility between 800m and 6000m.
It added that “these sources from Chad are expected to report poor horizontal visibility in the next 24hrs, based on available models.”
Due to strong winds, the dust in suspension is expected to propagate to some states in the northern part of the country, which will further reduce horizontal visibility especially over Katsina, Kano, Nguru, Jigawa, Potiskum and Maiduguri in the next 24hours, according to the NCAA.
It noted that this information is intended to alert pilots about nature of weather associated with dry season in Nigeria ranging from light/moderate to severe dust haze and sometimes early morning fog which can sometimes reduce the horizontal visibility to below the aerodrome operating minima.
The agency said members of the general public are to take necessary precaution during this time in the planning of their trips so as not to encounter unnecessary flight delays.