Weatherman gives this month’s rain forecast
The weatherman has allayed fears by Kenyans that the country will experience high rainfall in the coming months.
In its updated weather forecast for the period between October and December, the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) indicates most parts of the country will experience lower rains than usual, signaling a surprise shift.
“Several parts of the country are likely to experience depressed rainfall while Western Kenya is likely to receive near-average to below-average rainfall,” the weatherman’s Climate Outlook for the October-November-December (OND) 2020 “Short Rains” season shows.
KMD in the weekend attributed this forecast to the near-average Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) over the western Equatorial Indian Ocean – which is very close to the East African coastline.
The situation is also coupled with warmer than average SSTs over the eastern Equatorial Indian Ocean that’s closer to Australia.
“This constitutes a negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) that is not favourable for good rainfall over most of East Africa,” Stella Aura, the Meteorological Department director explained.
Also, she said that Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are near-to-below average across the central to eastern Pacific Ocean which implies that mild La-Nina conditions are present.
“The distribution of the rainfall in time and space is expected to be generally poor over several areas especially during the month of October and the peak month of November.
In the month of December sunny and dry conditions are expected to prevail over several places in the country as the cessation begins,” she added.
