Met Service and Fortis team up for research and data collection

Representatives from the National Meteorological Service (NMS) and Fortis Belize Limited (FBL) gathered at Fortis Belize’s John Evans Headquarters in San Ignacio, Cayo District to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU), agreeing to work collaboratively on data collection and research. The effort will focus mainly on sharing rainfall and other climate data as well as monthly inflow projections from the Macal River catchment area and information to help enhance the country’s early warning system and performance at FBL dams. Insight into the Macal River hydrology and the climate surrounding the Maya Mountains will be new information for NMS and aid in their responsibility to mitigate climate change challenges and protect life and property. Both parties will share water level, rainfall, and temperature data. NMS will allow FBL access to the Flood Early Warning System and the two entities will share projections for, among other things, potential flood events. The MOU will also result in installing a new weather station at the Chalillo dam, one of several efforts to be carried out and maintained jointly between NMS and FBL. The Minister of Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management, Orlando Habet, Chief Meteorologist Ronald Gordon, and FBL President and CEO Kay Menzies attended yesterday’s signing ceremony.