Carlos Fuller and Ramon Frutos are gone, and Gonguez isn't going to be there forever, so who are the voices and faces at the MET Department that will guide you through future storms?
Well, the national MET service is boosting its institutional capacity with a pair of scholarships to two staffers to study Meteorology at UWI's Cave Hill Campus in Barbados.
The scholarships are for $40,000 thousand dollars a year for three years and it is sponsored by the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility.
The two scholarship recipients are Michele Smith - meteorologist in charge of the Climatology and Climate Change Section and Shanea Young, a Met Officer.
Their boss, Chief Met Officer Gonguez said it is much needed:
Dennis Gonguez - Chief Meterological Officer
"The National Meterologicial Service of Belize experiencing some reduction in staff due to natural attrition, and this fellowship greatly assists the department, in that we have two young candidates who will move up the ladder and fill important positions in the Department."
Shanea Young - Met Officer
"I'm sure Ms. Michele Smith and I will be very successfuly candidates and make much use of this important and good opportunity given to us."
Michele Natalie Smith - Climatology and Climate Change Section
"I've been with the Met Service for 14 years, so given this opportunity to go and do the degree in Meterology is very important to me, and I am sure that I will be successful in my studies."
The scholarships are part of CCRIF's Technical Assistance Programme to help Caribbean countries deepen their understanding of natural hazards and catastrophe risk, and the potential impacts of climate change on the region.
