It is now two weeks till the first open democratic #Ethiopian election.
To open here's a high resolution satellite image of the Nile Basin from Cairo to Lake Victoria including Eastern Ethiopia where the #GERD dam is located, and where the Blue Nile - source of much of the Nile's flow - originates in Lake Tana (the heart shaped lake).
We will zoom in on the #HornOfAfrica starting with the wider picture. On the left side of this image you can see a #WesternSahara water transport event which is significantly impacting weather conditions in Europe. (See more in the attached thread
This zoomed section shows the water transit event and its impact in terms of rainfall over Italy the Adriatic coast, Greece and the Aegean Sea.
Our first rainfall forecasts. 10 day forecasts from the CMC, KMA, GFS and ECMWF models. There is an increasingly large level of disagreement between the two most extreme models CMC and ECMWF.
Note the CMC forecast of lots of #DesertRain north of the 15o Nth. latitude line.
We move east to the #HornOfAfrica. There are now strong westerlies blowing in from the North West over Oman these are setting of convection over the mountains from Yemen up the Red Sea Coast, in Taif #KSA, and Oman.
Note the fourth forecast is a 12 day KMA forecast. There is again a wide range of opinion between the three models.
This animation is a close up from earlier in the day today. The impact of the north easterly winds is significant.
Here are 3-day #HornOfAfrica rainfall forecasts from the same three models.
I have paused rainfall forecasts for now for the Arabian Peninsula for the past few days in deference to this announcement from the Saudi Arabian Govt.
However I also note that this report indicates that this ban comes into effect in six months time.
It is worth noting that none of the models whose forecasts I have been regularly posting since April have been doing a particularly good job at actually predicting rainfall in the peninsula of late anyway.
Here is an animation of today's cloud activity on the Peninsula.
To conclude today a wrap up of amazing videos of storm activity from around the world from @Arab_Storms.
This 1st image shows the monsoon spreading westwards across the Bay of Bengal. I think it is relevant to the rains in Africa but you will need to wait till the final tweet to see how.
The strength of the West African Monsoon continues to grow as you can see in the animation above. During the current active period (See also #EuropeBigWet) the Sahara is forecast to reach a point where there is water over most of the great desert. Here are 10d rainfall forecasts.
Today's #EuropeBigWet update. Russia is getting pummelled. Italy is on fire with thunderstorms and central Europe is getting busy.
For context click on the hashtag for earlier episodes. This has been building up for a while. Thread....
It started modestly even though the warm air over Europe is increasingly saturated with moisture. And then as the day got hotter the thunderstorms got active.
This afternoon Italy in particular looks as if it is undergoing something potentially rather dangerous.
This recording stands out because:
a) its explosive nature and
b) because of its wide dissemination and the implications that come from it in relation to the fairness of the election.
c) because it was explicitly denied by the Prime Minister.
The also addresses two wider issues, the first of which relates to elections everywhere, and the second which relates to the specific conditions of this election.
In the CPJ safety handbook for journalists misinformation is directly addressed. cpj.org/2021/06/ethiop…
The @guardian has now published a ill-considered incendiary op-ed by @KjetilTronvoll containing his reckons on a subject he doesn't appear to be treating with care. He seeks resignations over a complex war the details of which remain far from clear. theguardian.com/global-develop…
Let me get this straight professor. You now acknowledge inadvertently spreading misinformation/disinformation in the lead up to this election, you continue to accuse the #Ethiopian Govt. of engaging in it.
As a professor of peace/conflict studies you would be aware that this is Ethiopia’s first shot at a real free and fair democratic election, and you would be aware of the already heightened domestic very lethal tensions, and not just in Tigray. And yet you continue to stoke these.
The Ethiopian Govt is clear they have asked Eritrean troops to leave but they have not yet left, even though undertakings to do so were provided to the U.S.
It is also clear that Tigrayan forces initiated this war and continue - with assistance unknown - to pursue it.
The main source of water into the European zone remains a flow of water across the Sahara north, now on a broad front bringing rain along a 1700km wide front from France to the Aegean.
Notably the unusual circulation of thunderstorms north of the Black Sea has grown to 2000kms wide and now extends all the way to the Baltic. This system appeared with the #WesternSaharaPlume and appears to be fed by it.
This animation from @Meteoblue shows an apparently connected outflow heading East across northern Russia.