The minister of water and environmental affairs, Buyelwa Sonjica, has launched the South African Weather Service's new state-of-the art weather radar network. The radar network consists of 12 new Doppler weather radars.
The launch took place in Pretoria as part of SAWS' celebration of 150 years of organised meteorology in South Africa. It also followed another significant yearly celebration of World Meteorological Day observed on the 23 March 2010.
The South African government has granted SAWS R240 million for infrastructure investment to upgrade and replace its over 30-year-old radar systems to bring about a substantially improved weather observation network that meets contemporary needs.
The SAWS infrastructure network includes automatic weather stations, automatic rainfall stations, a sophisticated lightning detection network, computer infrastructure, satellite receiving equipment and weather radars.
