A. Training in Meteorological Observations Class IV

The Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services provide training in Meteorological Observations Class IV. The Training is designed to cater to the needs of persons who wish to gain knowledge and become synoptic or aeronautical observers; it may also for students seeking careers as climato-logical, agrometeorological or hydrometeorological observers. The Class IV course deals with Earth observation and should, in principle, be studied prior to the training course in any meteorologial field

The main objective of the course is to provide basic meteorological knowledge and practice in weather observing procedures and in the plotting of synoptic and aviation reports. On completion of the course participants are expected to:

  • Be familiar with the procedures and rules governing the recording and coding of different weather elements.
  • Accurately code, decode and plot synoptic and aviation reports; plot data on surface synoptic charts, upper air charts and thermodynamic diagrams
  • Extract hourly and daily data, and tabulate these data on climatological forms.
  • Determine when meteorological instruments are functioning properly.

Minimum Entry Requirements

Interested applicants should meet the following minimum requirements:
A Malawi School Certificate of Education or any equivalent O-Level qualification with at least 4 subjects passed with credit including ENGLISH LANGUAGE, Physics and Mathematics

Duration of The Course and Certificates

The course run for the period of 6 months and Worlrd Meteorological Organisation acredited certificates are awarded after passing the end of the course examinations

B. Training operators on new weather and climate instruments and equipment

Since the world meteorological organisation (WMO) strictly believes in standardisation and error free type of observations, its members from various meteorological institutions are given one common theoretical and hands on training on operations and care of each equipment and instrument before use. Similarly the engineering section within the department is also responsible for the provision of such training. The trainings come in different ways depending on the categories of members involved i.e.

  • Training of new recruits: this involves the imparting of knowledge for equipment and instruments within the system to members of staff newly employed in the department.
  • Refresher Kind of training: Comes as an update sort of training where existing members are either reminded on the procedures on the existing technologies or updated on the newly emerging technologies.
  • Private Sector training: this involves other departments and non-governmental organisations who are also operating their own weather stations within Malawi.

NOTE

The Department also offers tailor-made courses depending on the individual or organisation training needs.