Weather and Climate Information Services Early Warning for Southern Africa (WISER-EWSA) testbed 1

This document describes the activities and outcomes of the first Weather and Climate Information Services Early Warning for Southern Africa (WISER-EWSA) testbed (T-1) which took place from 29 January to 9 February 2024. The document follows the structure of the operations plan, examining the different items, reflecting how the plan panned out. The report also captures the reflections of the participants, highlighting what worked well and not so well, lessons learnt, and plans for improvement. The testbed was multi-sited, with forecasting and community hubs that interacted and exchanged information regularly. In Zambia where the main testbed activities happened, the forecasting hub was located at the Zambia meteorological department [ZMD], while community hub was in Kanyama. The activities in Zambia, whilst at a smaller scale, were mirrored in the other countries, South Africa and Mozambique. These two countries kept in touch with the main testbed in Zambia through daily teleconferencing at 12:00 and 16:30 SAST. The testbed was generally a success, with routine nowcast information generated at the forecasting hubs sent out to the community daily. The quality and presentation of that information improving over time, informed by feedback from users. Evaluations of the community hub by participants and community observers highlighted that 100% of the participants agreed that their ability to interpret weather information had increased.