Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário said yesterday during an explanatory meeting at the Legislative Assembly (AL) about the government’s “adverse weather warning” system that residents’ feedback on recent adverse weather forecasts was “irrational”, adding that “having any weather forecast is better than no forecast at all”.
The meeting hosted by Rosário was attended by lawmakers and the director and vice-director of the Macau Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG).
However, Rosário stressed that he would continue to work hard on weather forecasting but he hoped that residents would understand that predicting the weather usually it not 100 percent accurate. He stressed that there is a major difference between the system of rainstorm warnings in Macau compared to nearby areas, adding that Macau’s rainstorm warning system is a “forecast” while neighbouring regions use “real-time reporting”.
The policy secretary also said that if the forecast is off, it does not mean that the observatory has been “slacking” but it’s because the current technology is not able to pinpoint the exact precipitation level at a certain time and place.
He also said that in the first quarter of this year the Investment and Development Expenditure Plan (PIDDA) did not have a budget for a lidar (light detection and ranging) lab because it was “unreasonably expensive”.
Macau Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) Director Leong Weng Kun said that an observatory needed to meet many standards such as accuracy, timing and diversity. He acknowledged that residents nowadays have higher expectations of weather information. He said that in the past the observatory did not disclose all kinds of information, but now it has gradually diversified the information provided to the public. Therefore, despite the fact that the observatory’s accuracy is “relatively low”, it is still able to let residents know more about the actual weather.
Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário addresses yesterday’s explanatory meeting about the local observatory’s “adverse weather warning” system at the Legislative Assembly (AL) in Nam Van. Photo courtesy of TDM
