The South African Weather Service (SAWS) is the meteorological service under the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

n government's

Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism was a department of the government of South Africa from 1994 to 2009. Past Cabinet Ministers of Environmental Affairs and Tourism After the election of President Jacob Zuma in May 2009 the depa ...

. SAWS is a member of the

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the Inter ...

. Under the South African Weather Service Act (No. 8 of 2001) effective 15 July 2001, SAWS became a public entity.

Data acquisition

Weather stations

South Africa operates a significant number of weather stations in

as well as stations at

Gough Island upright=1.3, Map of Gough island Gough Island ( ), also known historically as Gonçalo Álvares, is a rugged volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a dependency of Tristan da Cunha and part of the British overseas territory of Sai ...

Marion Island The Prince Edward Islands are two small uninhabited islands in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean that are part of South Africa. The islands are named Marion Island (named after Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, 1724–1772) and Prince Edward Isla ...

and

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

in cooperation with the

South African National Antarctic Programme The South African National Antarctic Programme (or SANAP) is the South African government's programme for research in the Antarctic and Subantarctic. Three research stations fall under this programme: the Antarctica research station SANAE IV, a ...

Weather radar

Near real-time (''~5 minutes delay'')

weather radar Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pulse- ...

is available for most of the country, even within the

Kruger National Park Kruger National Park is a South African National Park and one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends from north to south and from ea ...

Marine weather buoys

Between 30 and 40 drifting weather buoys are deployed annually.

Weather modification

The SAWS, in cooperation with a number of other entities, is actively involved in

weather control Weather modification is the act of intentionally manipulating or altering the weather. The most common form of weather modification is cloud seeding, which increases rain or snow, usually for the purpose of increasing the local water supply. W ...

research under the ''South African National Precipitation Research and Rainfall Enhancement Programme'', specifically with the ''Bethlehem Precipitation Research Project''

References

External links

*
Near real-time weather radar
{{Authority control South African Weather Service