Hot weather due to cloud formation

The hot weather conditions being experienced in the country is the result of cloud formation.

“There is heavy cloud formation now, so the heat from the sun is trapped by these clouds during the day, and sent back into the atmosphere at night,” said Mr. Tetteh Portuphy, Senior Meteorologist at the Ghana Meteorological Agency, Kotoka International Airport.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, he said at the peak of the harmattan season, there were no clouds.

Mr Portuphy said, “the harmattan winds were dry and contained no moisture, which made cloud formation impossible, but now we are getting the south-westerly winds which contain moisture, resulting in cloud formation.”

The Senior Meteorologist said the heat in the atmosphere would naturally abate when the rainy season sets in.

He gave some statistics on temperature readings within the country four weeks ago when the harmattan had peaked and the situation currently.

The middle sector of the country, for example, recorded 13.9 degrees celsius as minimum temperature and 34.6 degrees celcius as maximum temperature at the peak of the harmattan, whilst the same sector presently has 20.2 degrees celcius and 37.7 degrees celcius as its minimum and maximum temperature readings respectively.

The Northern sector also had 13.5 degrees celsius and 35.0 degrees celsius as its minimum and maximum readings respectively at the peak of the harmattan, whilst it presently reads 16.8 degrees celsius as its minimum and 39.5 degrees celsius as its maximum temperature reading.