Recent developments in weather forecasting for urban areas in West Africa

In West Africa, weather forecasting for Urban areas and city dwellers, had largely depended on the use of climatological approaches. The advent of satellites and numerical weather prediction have brought a lot of improvements and accuracy in the short range weather forecasting. The paper then, examines the use of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) products and Satellite data which are new developments for studying the evolution of synoptic systems. The paper also confirms the effects of topography as a major factor in urban weather forecasting. It is suggested that the change in the urban landscape affects the weather and climate of the urban areas. The paper finally discusses the way forwards, to further improving weather forecasting for city dwellers in West Africa.