Cold season to continue until August
The cold season being experienced in most parts of the country is expected to continue until August, the weatherman has said.
Murang’a county meteorological officer Paul Murage said the temperatures were likely to dip in the next two weeks.
He told the press in Murang’a that the cold weather was likely to affect crop harvesting, storage and road usage.
“Farmers are likely to experience a huge post-harvest loss if they don’t use appropriate measures to dry and store their produce,” he said.
“At such times, poor storage might lead to accumulation of aflatoxin which is hazardous to human health,” he added.
The move comes even as scientists at Kenya Meteorological Department have said the cold season has already set in, and is expected to last until the end of July.
Joseph Kagenyi, a climatology expert at Kenya Met also cautioned that airports were particularly going to be very foggy and could last for some days.
The phenomenon was was attributed to large amounts of groundwater under the runways that are withdrawn to form low clouds in most of this cold season.
“We are already in the cold June and July weather that has intermittent cold and drizzling days in the morning followed by short sunny intervals that may give some light showers but with light night rains most likely,” he said.
For sunny days, he said, Kenyans should expect light to heavy showers over a short period.
“These are locally induced weather events. Highlands are cold and wet with heavy rains in certain pockets otherwise expect the weather to be cloudy only.
“Care must be taken on flu and blocked nose in this season. Keep warm and keep safe from both Covid-19 and local flu kind of colds. We will be witnessing the air blowing from subsides,” he added.
Weather update
In its weekly weather update valid until today, the Kenya Meteorological Department says rainfall is expected over parts of Highlands West and East of the Rift Valley, adding that strong southerly winds above 25Knots (12.5m/s) are also expected over the Eastern half of the country.
The update say Central, Nairobi and parts of eastern regions showers will be expected over few places, in Western, Nyanza, Central and South Rift Valley regions showers and thunderstorms will be experienced while in North western/lake Turkana region, showers and thunderstorms expected over few places tonight.
In North Eastern region sunny interval will be expected, in South Eastern lowlands region it will be partly cloudy conditions and in the Coastal region sunny intervals were expected the entire day tomorrow.
Folowing the cold weather patterns, motorists have also urged to be on the look out due to fog which affects the visibility on the roads.
“We expect the fog to intensify by the beginning of July and thus we are giving an early caution to the motorists,” said Murage.
The official said people with existing conditions such as arthritis and asthma should take extra care of themselves as their conditions might get worse.
He warned that this could also be a peak season for the spread of Coronavirus urging people to take extra caution and avoid unnecessary movement.
Murage also said there were plans to establish a committee to assess the damage caused by the March-May rains.
“We are working with other government departments to have this assessment done and this will help us in taking necessary measures ahead of the next rainy season,” he added.
