Analysis of Average Annual Rainfall and Average Maximum Annual Temperature for a Period of 30 years to Establish Trends in Kieni, Central

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyze average annual rainfall and average maximum annual temperature records for 30 years in the study area to establish trends hence confirm the presence or absence of climate change. The analysis was accomplished with the use of MS Excel spreadsheets. The meteorological datasets were 1984-2013 records for rainfall and 1981-2012 for temperature. The rainfall climatological standard normal was computed for a 25-year period between 1989 and 2012 which was used to compute the average annual rainfall anomaly. The temperature provisional normal was computed for a period of 10 years due to lack of adequate data. The average annual rainfall anomaly for 1984-2013 periods was -8.8 mm an indication of a declining rainfall trend while the annual maximum temperature for 1981-2012 period was 0.5°C a positive trend showing that the annual maximum temperatures are rising in the study area. Therefore, the declining average annual rainfall accompanied with rising maximum temperatures were indicators of the presence of climate change.