One major aspect of the international Thorpex program is the support for development of plans that meet regional needs. The African Thorpex science plan is driven by the desire of the African forecasting and user communities to ensure that the Thorpex scientific work is motivated by interests of the user with the growing and changing needs. Thorpex Africa is being developed with the overall goal of providing African society, economy and environment with better weather and water information for different applications.

Moreover, the needs for more skilful, reliable, detailed, local and relevant weather information are putting significant pressure on African Meteorological Services to help counteract the ever increasing society sensitivity to weather conditions. Analysis of some users decision systems shows that information on forecast uncertainty is becoming a basic requirement particularly in cases of high impact events. Thorpex Africa will support the 21st century African forecasting offices to meet these needs with a holistic approach to the forecasting business.

The current status and problems of the African forecasting community, activities proposed, major deliverables, partnerships and performance measures for Thorpex Africa are discussed.