Rains to continue

MOST of Namibia, except the southern part, can expect more rainy weather today and tomorrow.

While rainy conditions are expected to clear over the southern parts of Namibia today and tomorrow, more rainfall is forecast over the rest of the country for the rest of this week and into the weekend, weather forecaster Odillo Kgobetsi of the Hosea Kutako International Airport office of the Meteorological Service of Namibia told The Namibian yesterday. Kgobetsi said scattered rain showers are expected over the northeastern part of Namibia from today to the end of the week, while the northwestern, central and eastern parts of the country should receive isolated showers in this time.By the weekend, moisture is expected to again drift in over the South, increasing rainfall chances for that part of the country as well, he said.Heavy showers have been recorded at various places across Namibia since Saturday, with the levels of most of Namibia’s major storage dams having also been further boosted over the past week.At Khorixas, 75,6 millimetres of rain that had fallen since Saturday morning was measured on Sunday morning, according to rainfall figures released by the Meteorological Service.An additional 8,1 mm of rain was measured at Khorixas by Monday morning.Hosea Kutako International Airport east of Windhoek received 34 mm of rain from Saturday morning to Sunday morning, while at the Met Office in the city, 17,2 mm was measured in this period.At Sesriem in the Namib-Naukluft area, 40 mm of rain was measured on Sunday morning.Heavy rains also came down over Schlip, west of Kalkrand, from Sunday, with 60 mm of rain emptied out of rain gauges there on Monday morning.At the same time, 39,5 mm of rain was measured at Eenhana in the far north.Also on Monday morning, 12,8 mm of rain was measured at Hosea Kutako International Airport.At the Windhoek Met Office, 6,2 mm of rain was recorded on Monday morning, followed by a further 17,8 mm yesterday morning.At Tsumeb, 29,5 mm of rain was also measured yesterday morning.With most of Namibia’s major dams having received significant inflows of water since the start of February, the country’s five largest dams were all fuller by the beginning of this week than they had been a year ago.The Hardap Dam, from which water has been released since Saturday in an effort to keep its level around the 70 per cent mark, had reached a level of 70,8 per cent (208,4 million cubic metres of water) of its capacity of 294,5 million cubic metres on Monday.It had received an inflow of 8,6 million cubic metres of water in the preceding week, having received an inflow of 70,2 million cubic metres in the week between February 11 and 18, and 51,1 million cubic metres in the week before that.The level of the Naute Dam near Keetmanshoop stood at 76 per cent on Monday.The Swakoppoort Dam had reached a level of 81,7 per cent (last year: 81,3 per cent) on Monday, with an additional inflow of 6,2 million cubic metres of water into this dam in the preceding week.The Von Bach Dam’s level was at 63 per cent on Monday (56,3 per cent last year), the Omatako Dam at 80,8 per cent (67,4 per cent last year), and the Oanob Dam at 80 per cent (last year: 78,7 per cent).Kgobetsi said scattered rain showers are expected over the northeastern part of Namibia from today to the end of the week, while the northwestern, central and eastern parts of the country should receive isolated showers in this time.By the weekend, moisture is expected to again drift in over the South, increasing rainfall chances for that part of the country as well, he said.Heavy showers have been recorded at various places across Namibia since Saturday, with the levels of most of Namibia’s major storage dams having also been further boosted over the past week. At Khorixas, 75,6 millimetres of rain that had fallen since Saturday morning was measured on Sunday morning, according to rainfall figures released by the Meteorological Service.An additional 8,1 mm of rain was measured at Khorixas by Monday morning.Hosea Kutako International Airport east of Windhoek received 34 mm of rain from Saturday morning to Sunday morning, while at the Met Office in the city, 17,2 mm was measured in this period.At Sesriem in the Namib-Naukluft area, 40 mm of rain was measured on Sunday morning.Heavy rains also came down over Schlip, west of Kalkrand, from Sunday, with 60 mm of rain emptied out of rain gauges there on Monday morning.At the same time, 39,5 mm of rain was measured at Eenhana in the far north.Also on Monday morning, 12,8 mm of rain was measured at Hosea Kutako International Airport.At the Windhoek Met Office, 6,2 mm of rain was recorded on Monday morning, followed by a further 17,8 mm yesterday morning.At Tsumeb, 29,5 mm of rain was also measured yesterday morning.With most of Namibia’s major dams having received significant inflows of water since the start of February, the country’s five largest dams were all fuller by the beginning of this week than they had been a year ago.The Hardap Dam, from which water has been released since Saturday in an effort to keep its level around the 70 per cent mark, had reached a level of 70,8 per cent (208,4 million cubic metres of water) of its capacity of 294,5 million cubic metres on Monday.It had received an inflow of 8,6 million cubic metres of water in the preceding week, having received an inflow of 70,2 million cubic metres in the week between February 11 and 18, and 51,1 million cubic metres in the week before that.The level of the Naute Dam near Keetmanshoop stood at 76 per cent on Monday.The Swakoppoort Dam had reached a level of 81,7 per cent (last year: 81,3 per cent) on Monday, with an additional inflow of 6,2 million cubic metres of water into this dam in the preceding week.The Von Bach Dam’s level was at 63 per cent on Monday (56,3 per cent last year), the Omatako Dam at 80,8 per cent (67,4 per cent last year), and the Oanob Dam at 80 per cent (last year: 78,7 per cent).