*New facility at Mukaynis to provide more accurate information about weather, climate change
HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani on Thursday inaugurated a first-of-its-kind high-tech facility to provide more accurate information about weather and climate change at Mukaynis in Al Rayyan Municipality, about 36km from Doha.
The opening of the Mukaynis Meteorological Centre, which was attended by HE the Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti, also marked the launching of Q Weather mobile application by Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
A control room will function with a radar tower at the Mukaynis Meteorological Centre that can give proper updates and forecast about rain, wind, thunderstorm and sandstorm. As per the plan, the new centre will function in collaboration with other weather monitoring stations across Qatar and the region.
The Mukaynis Meteorological Centre will also ensure the smooth organisation of the FIFA 2022 World Cup by sharing accurate weather updates.
Speaking at the ceremony, HE al-Sulaiti said Qatar is committed to modernising other meteorological centres across the country.
He thanked His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah for paying great attention towards transport and communication projects in the country.
CAA president Abdullah bin Nasser Turki al-Subaey explained to HE the Prime Minister how the Mukaynis Meteorological Centre will help the aviation, agriculture and fishing sectors get accurate weather updates at the right time.
Meteorology Department director Abdulla Mohamed al-Mannai said the new centre will conduct accurate analysis and give correct data. The facility will ensure a better quality of early morning and evening updates daily.
The Mukaynis Meteorological Centre will cover a radius of 500km, al-Mannai explained during a PowerPoint presentation. Describing the facility as 'a giant leap', he said it will be part of international weather radars and function as part of a global consortium helping various countries get weather updates.
“We will look into the possibilities of helping other countries improve the quality of weather monitoring,” he said.
“In the initial stage, the centre will function with a control station where three employees work in co-ordination with various departments. The real time updates from the forecast section of the centre will be given to the other departments including air navigation.
"The authorities have plans to increase the strength of the employees and add more features to the centre, which will also be developed as an institution for studies, training and research," he added.
