The Meteorological Services Department (Met Department) has warned winter crop farmers to take precautionary measures to protect their crops as night temperatures are likely to continue falling with most areas said to have recorded lowest temperatures below zero degrees Celsius yesterday.
Met Department senior meteorological officer Elliot Thomas told NewsDay yesterday that most parts of the country had recorded moderate to severe ground frost with a minimum of -2 degrees Celsius and below.
“This was due to loss of heat from the ground to the outer space due to the absence of the blanketing effect of clouds as the skies were clear and also due to the flow of very cold and dry air from the south,” he said.
“We only have ground frost,which are temperatures at or below zero degrees at the surface. We had that in Bulawayo today (yesterday) with Goetz Observatory recording a ground minimum temperature of – 4°C.”
Thomas said some of the lowest ground temperatures recorded were -6°C in Gweru, -5 in Nyanga, -4 in Wedza, Hwange, Mvurwi and Bulawayo. However, he said fine weather was expected to persist across the whole country until July 22 with cloudy conditions on July 23 in Matabeleland South and Masvingo.
“Daytime temperatures should be cool to mild at around 17-25 degrees whilst the morning temperatures should be very cold at below 10°C,” he said.
“Moderate to severe ground frost should be around -3 degrees and expected in the frost-prone areas such as Marondera, Wedza, Chivhu, Gweru, Matopos, Bulawayo and Nyanga.”
Thomas said it was unlikely for the country to experience snow because of the warm atmospheric temperatures.
