eDIToRS CoMMeNT
BY aNDY FeNWICK
e have witnessed this build-up every afternoon for several weeks now - but there has been very little, if any, rainfall. But today it is different. You can sense it in the air. The atmosphere is electric, and there is a steady, strong breeze kicking up the dust and leaves of a hot and dry November. Today it will rain. My anticipation is further bolstered by a long, rolling rumble of thunder. It rattles the windows. The experts reckon that all the elements are in place for an ‘El-Nino’ event - basically a change in the earth’s ocean currents. In layman’s terms, we are heading for a drought. I certainly pray that they are wrong. However, if reports coming in from friends in Lusaka, Zambia are anything to go by, they have had non-stop rain for the past week. The ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) - the weather pattern that produces central Africa’s seasonal rainfall cycle - by all accounts is sitting
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As I write this, it’s nearing four o-clock in the afternoon. A massive storm is brewing over Harare’s skyline - a brooding, dark, moisture-laden mass of leaden cloud enshrouds the landscape. Little compares with the awesome power and spectacle of a good old-fashioned southern African thunderstorm.
firmly right on top of the Zambezi river. This is excellent news. The reason I have brought this up, is that we recently heard disturbing reports that a fuel tanker carrying diesel spilled it's contents into the Kafue river (a main tributary