METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATION NETWORK
The backbone of a successful meteorological service is a good network of weather observation stations and fast communication facilities to disseminate the observed data and information at national, regional and global scales. Meteorological data is used for near-real time weather forecasting. It is also archived for various uses in research, climatological purposes and in studying global warming and climate change. Near-real weather forecasts and climatological records are essential for weather dependent operations on real and non-real time, which includes transportation (air, road, rail and over water), agriculture, water resource management, health, construction, tourism, sports and recreation, public weather, and services among others.

Due to the needs to boost agriculture, rainfall observations started in Botswana around 1909. Currently the country has a network of over 400 rainfall stations. Fourteen (14) synoptic (full weather observation) stations are fairly well distributed over the country from Tsabong in the southwest to Shakawe in the extreme northwest. Data collected is vital for exchange nationally and internationally as well as to contribute to safety during air travel especially during the early days when road infrastructure within the country and to neighbouring countries has not been developed adequately. However, due to current government emphasis on tourism and other activities, some synoptic stations are being upgraded to Dependent Meteorological Offices (DMO's). There are Maun, Kasane and Francistown. The former two are in tourist attraction centres. Four upper air observation stations are maintained at Gaborone (Sir Seretse Khama Airport), Maun, Letlhakane and Tsabong. Due to the government's commitment to develop the network further, it has endeavoured to establish at least one synoptic station each year under its National Development Plans (NDPs). Two extra upper air stations are planned for construction during NDP 8/9. Apart from conventional stations, automatic weather stations (AWSs) have been installed in remote areas with donor support and through collaboration between the Departments of Meteorological Services and Water Affairs. A total of 20 AWSs established use space based satellite facilities to communicate data to a ground receiving station at the Meteorological Headquarters.

RAINFALL
Botswana experiences seasonal rainfall. Most of it occurs in summer between November and March with October and April as transition months. However, in some individual years, some rainfall may extend into May. The mean annual rainfall varies from a maximum of over 650mm in the extreme northeastern area of Chobe District to a maximum of less than 250mm in the extreme southwestern parts of Kgalagadi District. A secondary maximum of about 550mm exists along the southern border with the Republic of South Africa, near Lobatse. A secondary minimum of less than 350mm is found in the low-lying extreme eastern part.

METEOROLOGICAL COMMUNICATIONS
The weather systems which are responsible for rainfall in Botswana only barely affects the country. They include extra tropical waves and troughs in the middle and upper westerly airstreams, tropical systems, which include the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), easterly waves, Congo Airmass Boundary (CAB) and tropical storms or tropical cyclones of the south west Indian Ocean. As a result of only weak weather systems affecting the country, annual to inter-annual rainfall variability is very high. Thus, drought occurrence over the country or part of it is a frequent phenomenon. However, drought may be meteorological, hydrological or agricultural whose intensity would normally be accelerated by expressive use of water, overgrazing and poor land use practices. During years of steady rainfall, which encourages growth of forage, multiplication of livestock and wild animal herds, and extension of cultivation of lands that would be better left in grass, man feels confident that all is well and pushes land-use to its limit. This false confidence, which surpasses the carrying capacity of land causes years of drier spells in Botswana look like drought.

Some measures to prevent long-term ecological damage, which lead into drought, have been put forward as follows:
• The need to educate people to give up the traditional motion that wealth is associated with the number of cattle one has. We recall that beef is the major export commodity in Botswana • Instill an understanding into communities of some of the causes and effects of overgrazing, veld fires, de-vegetation, lack of soil cover, and lack of protection against wind and rainfall erosion as well as the characteristics of rainfall etc. • Planting of hardier species to stabilize semi-arid areas against desert-type encroachment • Priority to be concentrated in improving farming methods for crop production as well as giving emphasis to studies and documentation of disasters