The Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) has announced rainfall will continue across four regions this week.
In a weekly weather forecast released on Monday, August 25, the Met Department predicted that the rains would be experienced in the Lake Victoria Basin, Rift Valley, Western, and North-western Kenya.
The weatherman, however, said the intensity of the rainfall would ease towards the end of the week.
“Rainfall continues across the Lake Victoria Basin, Rift Valley, Western, and North-western Kenya. However, intensity and coverage are gradually easing,” read the weather forecast in part.
The Met Department also announced that cool and cloudy conditions are expected intermittently across parts of the Central Highlands, Western Kenya, South-eastern Lowlands, and the Rift Valley.
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Meanwhile, the North-eastern and North-western Kenya regions will experience hot days above 30 °C throughout the week.
On the other hand, parts of the Central Highlands, Central Rift Valley, and near Mt. Kilimanjaro will have cold nights with minimum temperatures dropping to below 10 °C.
Further, the Met Department warned that strong southerly to south-easterly winds exceeding 25 knots are expected over the coastal region this week.
The South-eastern Lowlands, North-eastern, and North-western Kenya regions will also experience the strong winds.
“Southerly to south-easterly winds, exceeding 25 knots (12.86 m/s), are expected over the Coast (and Kenya’s territorial waters), South-eastern Lowlands, North-eastern, and North-western Kenya,” the weatherman added.
The weather forecast comes after the Met Department attributed the unusual rains experienced between August 17 and August 19 to two major global weather drivers.
According to the Met Department, a band of convective clouds that moves from the west to the east across the global tropical Oceans, the Madden Julianne Oscillation (MJO), caused the wet conditions experienced over Nairobi, Central Kenya, and the western half of the country.
“This has been caused by a band of convective clouds that moves from the west to the east across the global tropical Oceans, referred to as the Madden Julianne Oscillation (MJO). This system is classified into eight phases and brings rainfall over the country when it moves over the Indian Ocean (phases 2 and 3). Currently, the MJO is in phase 3 and is expected to remain in that phase for the next couple of days,” the weatherman stated.
KMD also said a pressure gradient caused by a cooler Atlantic Ocean pulled the rain-bearing system further east than usual, leading to wetter-than-expected conditions across parts of Kenya.
