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Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 28, 2021 (SKNIS): The St. Kitts Department of Meteorological Services is celebrating 50 years of service under the theme “Service with Accuracy and Reliability – St. Kitts Meteorological Service at 50,” a theme Elmo Burke, Senior Meteorological (MET) Officer at the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA), described as quite appropriate for the occasion.

“Some of the core tenants in terms of the mandate of the office is to provide accurate information to the general public because the general public, as well as all of our stakeholders, requires as accurate as possible information so that they can make timely interventions to save lives and livelihoods,” said Mr. Burke during the April 28 edition of Working for You.

Mr. Burke noted that the general public must appreciate that weather information disseminated by the MET Office is credible, hence the importance of reliability.

“Also, the information must be reliable. Persons must have a level of confidence in the information that we are going to be sharing with them because we are the authoritative source for weather here in St. Kitts and Nevis,” he said. “As such, we coined this based on our mission statement because we recognize that we need to ensure that we continue to provide service with accuracy and reliability because if you don’t do that you would become obsolete and you won’t be relevant anymore.”

He added that once persons feel the information is not credible they will find alternative sources to get their weather information, especially from foreign sources. According to Mr. Burke, obtaining information from foreign sources and making decisions based on the information received can be very dangerous.

Ray John, Former Meteorological Officer, shared similar sentiments adding that over the years sustainability has become very pronounced.

“It is not just reliability, but it encapsulates the whole idea of sustainability and has always been the authentic source. You don’t want to be the leader of anything, you want to be the authentic authority with respect to the weather,” said Mr. John.