Pollution: Antananarivo drowned into the dark

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Mid-October, the growing smog engulfes the city a little more with each new day. The air is dry and warm to death. The sunlight toys with lower and higher temperatures. Weather forecasts predicted that the heavy pollution would weather within ten days away when the first raindrops would appear… and finally proved to have had got it right.

The way this salvatory rain would save Antananarivo from its prison cell of thick smog created the stir for having been completely unexpected. On Wednesday, October 24th, the morning was wonderful: blue sky, sunshine. By 16:30 hours, heavy clouds began to invade the sky, hinting a likely rainfall by the same way. At 17:00 hours, local time, the city was plunged into deep darkness, occasionally torn apart by wind blows and short raindrops.

The meteorological explanation

It was neither the beginning of the Apocalypse nor the end of times… yet. This dark was caused by the long accumulation of smog below the clouds. According to the National Weather Forecast Service, these two layers prevented the sunlight from reaching the ground, hence the alternation of sunshine and dark clouds during these latest days. These two layers finally blocked sunlight completely.

Below the smog layer, the green house effect freely developed and warmed the air up. Sunrays entering the atmosphere were imprisoned down here, and made people miss the rain quite much. And when the wanted rain appeared, wind and lightning followed suit.

Heavy pollution over the country since September

The air pollution is in no way new to Antananarivo, has however rarely affected the weather in such a dramatic way. The largest share of smog was caused by bush fires swarming up around the city. The ecological disaster impacts at a national scale. As an evidence to this allegation, the NASA – the famous American aerospace agency – gave a warning when bushfires popped up throughout Madagascar in September 2012.

MODIS, a satellite, provided with a snapshot displaying hundreds of red dots surrounded by smoke. The official reports addressed bushfires related to an agricultural technique using fire to clean new culture lands. The NASA regretted the ecological fallbacks, for example rivers turning red because of the widespread erosion, especially on the western side of the Island.

Bushfires are actually turning the western part of Madagascar into a wasteland. The central highlands, and the deep south as well though. Setting the bush alight in the regions held under control by the Dahalo, the local zebu thieves, happens to be part of a military strategy supposed to deter potential  pursuers, namely the police forces, from trying to catch up. No wonder, that the South had to bear an outbreak of bushfires during the latest months.

The air pollution in Antananarivo caused scores of medical problems, as reported by various healthcare centers. The outstanding heat equally created stress at a large scale. Regarding agriculture, the urban rice fields began to dry down. Early rice harvests are not yet completely jeopardized though. There will be rain for sure, since four to ten cyclones dashing through the Indian Ocean are expected to call in to Madagascar. At least one of them is likely to give causes for concerns.