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 Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n government's Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. SAWS is a member of the

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...

. The SAWS traces its lineage to the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

Meteorological Commission, established in October 1860. The

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

's Weather Service was established in 1912 under the Department of Irrigation, with Charles M Stewart as its first Chief Meteorologist. At some point between 1912 and 1940, the SAWS' name was changed to the Meteorological Service, and in 1940, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, became the responsibility of the Department of Defence. In 1949, the Meteorological Service was transferred to the Department of Transport, and became the South African Weather Bureau. It became housed under the Department of Environmental Affairs in 1986. Under the South African Weather Service Act (No. 8 of 2001) effective 15 July 2001, the Weather Bureau became the South African Weather Service as a public entity.

Data acquisition

Weather stations

South Africa operates a significant number of weather stations in

as well as stations at

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 Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan d ...

, Marion Island 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 (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

in cooperation with the South African National Antarctic Programme.

Weather radar

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

weather radar A weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern w ...

is available for most of the country, even within the

Kruger National Park Kruger National Park () is a national park in South Africa covering an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in the country's northeast. It extends from north to south and from east to west. The administrative headquarters are i ...

Marine weather buoys

Between 30 and 40 drifting

weather buoy Weather buoys are instruments which collect weather and ocean data within the world's oceans, as well as aid during emergency response to chemical spills, legal proceedings, and engineering design. Moored buoys have been in use since 1951, whil ...

s are deployed annually.

Weather modification

The SAWS, in cooperation with a number of other entities, is actively involved in weather control research under the South African National Precipitation Research and Rainfall Enhancement Programme, specifically with the Bethlehem Precipitation Research Project.

References

External links

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