
The climate over Nigeria has several features, humidity, air temperature and pressure, wind speed and direction, cloud cover and types, amount and form of precipitation, infrared and solar radiation, terrestrial radiation, soil moisture, evaporation, vegetation cover, latitude, elevation and sea surface temperature.
humidity, air temperature and pressure, wind speed and direction, cloud cover and types, amount and form of precipitation, infrared and solar radiation, terrestial radiation, soil moisture, evaporation, vegetation cover, latitude, elevation and sea surface temperature. - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/climate-climate-change-the-dry-and-wet-seasons-in-west-africa-2/#sthash.kWZkqnr5.dpufThe annual rainfall event decreases in magnitude as one goes from the south to the north, as well as the dry season decreases from the north to the south.
There are two main seasons, the rainy season and the dry season. The rainy season occurs between April and October in the south while in the north, the start of the rainy season is delayed till June with respect to the action of two trade winds, the Equatorial Maritime (south-east winds) which are the main rain bearing winds in Nigeria.and the Tropical Continental (dry north-west winds) known as the harmattan.
Nigerian rainfall event is characterized by the movement of the south-east trade wind originating from the south Atlantic ocean towards the northern boundaries, thereby dropping water molecules carried along its way, this is the rainy season from march, April, may, June July, august"the august break" September and October, with generally lower temperature. however the entire rainfall period begins slower in March, gradually increasing till its peak period in June over most parts of south, with thick clouds and is excessively downpour particularly in the coastal lowlands (Niger Delta) Annual rainfall totals vary from 2400 to over 4000 millimeters.
Niger Delta cities and their annually rainfall totals in millimeters:
Warri — 2,730mm ( Forcados (coastal town in the Niger Delta) — 4,870mm)
Port Harcourt — 2,400mm
Calabar (coastal city) — 3,070mm (rainiest city with over one million people in Nigeria)
Bonny (south of Port Harcourt) — 4,200mm
in the north the two rainfall event occurs between July and September.
The dry season from November to March which is characterized by the movement of the north-east winds from the Sahara Desert covers the whole of the northern part of the country and may even break through to the south during its heights. at this time the country witness severe dry and dusty north-east winds, Vegetation, grasses and trees dry up and their leaves starts withering away
A study at Ahmadu Bello University of rainfall in Northern Nigeria covered the area north of latitude 100N with data from Kontagora, Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Yelwa, Samaru, Poliskum, Birnin Kebbi, Gusau, Kano, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Katsina, Hadejia and Nguru.Rainfall data for the period 1976 to 2005 was analyzed with respects to the decrease in long-term average rainfall in the coastal city of lagos, the results of the study
showed that the rains now start late but end early and thus the length of the rainy season is decreasing. The frequency of dry spells of 5 days is decreasing, while dry spells of 10, 15 or more days are on the increase, northern Nigeria is therefore becoming drier. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, has carried out a review of the climate over Nigeria in 2010. The review indicated that warmer than normal conditions prevailed over greater parts of the country.
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