Weather and climate heavily impact economic growth and development in Africa. Natural hazards, including tropical cyclones, drought, floods, vector-borne diseases, agricultural pests, sandstorms, wildfires, and landslides, frequently result in disasters and cost lives. In 2008, Kofi Annan, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the telecom company Ericsson launched the “Weather Info For All” (WIFA) initiative to make reliable weather and climate forecasts available to some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. By deploying automatic weather stations (AWS) at wireless network sites across Africa, the initiative is reinforcing the capacity of national meteorological and hydrological services to provide accurate local weather forecasts and early warnings.

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