Laos, a landlocked country, may be hit by heavy rain in its northern regions and the capital from August 15 to 17, due to the tropical storm ‘Sepat' that is bearing down on the Philippines said an official of the Weather Forecasting Unit yesterday.
The Chief of the unit, Mr Vandy Duangmala, the heavy rain will also move from the capital and down to central part of the country later on.
“The rain will not only be caused by ‘Sepat', but also by the low-pressure system over the northern and central part of Laos,” he said.
The unite received information via a satellite covering the entire Asian region, which measures the motion of weather patterns, including wind, clouds, rain and storms.
“In our region, we can see all the weather patterns in other countries through the satellite. We can then take this information to analyse it in our country to create our database, because we have to know where the storms begin and use the data to track them as they progress,” he explained.
The unit has forecasting stations in other provinces of the country, which are not able to receive the same information from the satellite. However, the provincial stations measure the weather in local areas and are able to transmit all information to the centre in Vientiane.
Besides these remote stations, there are four additional stations, in the capital, Savannakhet, Champassak and Luang Prabang provinces, that directly send the latest weather information to all airports every 30 minutes, he added.
“We now have 21 stations in our country, but it is clearly not enough to collect all of the information, especially in provinces,” he said.
The unit predicted last month that some provinces would soon be facing floods rather than drought.
If heavy rainfall occurs as predicted at the end of the rainy season, it will result in extensive flooding and could cause serious damage in lowland areas.
The southern provinces could be strongly affected by annual hurricanes originating from Siam Bay in Thailand and the Pacific Ocean .
The hurricanes create consistent rainfall throughout the southern part of the country, and often result in major flooding.
By the end of the rainy season, the water level in the Mekong will rise, and the riverbed will be unable to accommodate the large amounts of water entering from its tributaries. Most of the Mekong's tributaries are in Laos , adding a further high risk of flooding.
The Chief of the unit, Mr Vandy Duangmala, the heavy rain will also move from the capital and down to central part of the country later on.
“The rain will not only be caused by ‘Sepat', but also by the low-pressure system over the northern and central part of Laos,” he said.
The unite received information via a satellite covering the entire Asian region, which measures the motion of weather patterns, including wind, clouds, rain and storms.
“In our region, we can see all the weather patterns in other countries through the satellite. We can then take this information to analyse it in our country to create our database, because we have to know where the storms begin and use the data to track them as they progress,” he explained.
The unit has forecasting stations in other provinces of the country, which are not able to receive the same information from the satellite. However, the provincial stations measure the weather in local areas and are able to transmit all information to the centre in Vientiane.
Besides these remote stations, there are four additional stations, in the capital, Savannakhet, Champassak and Luang Prabang provinces, that directly send the latest weather information to all airports every 30 minutes, he added.
“We now have 21 stations in our country, but it is clearly not enough to collect all of the information, especially in provinces,” he said.
The unit predicted last month that some provinces would soon be facing floods rather than drought.
If heavy rainfall occurs as predicted at the end of the rainy season, it will result in extensive flooding and could cause serious damage in lowland areas.
The southern provinces could be strongly affected by annual hurricanes originating from Siam Bay in Thailand and the Pacific Ocean .
The hurricanes create consistent rainfall throughout the southern part of the country, and often result in major flooding.
By the end of the rainy season, the water level in the Mekong will rise, and the riverbed will be unable to accommodate the large amounts of water entering from its tributaries. Most of the Mekong's tributaries are in Laos , adding a further high risk of flooding.
