The potential impact of climate change on precipitation and weather patterns over West Africa has also been extensively studied (e.g., see [19–23]). Senegal. Is Ghana ready for 2020 raining season which is about to start? So, wind blows them down south and they come here and our rain starts and they have fertile grounds for reproduction… Considering the conditions under which this plague is developing, the likelihood of it getting to Ghana is very high, much higher.” Generally, the month of June is the peak of the major rainy season over southern Ghana. The 2020 rainy season for the Sudanian and Sahelian zones is expected to be wetter than average. The isobar over Ghana ranged between 1010 hPa to the north and 1012 hPa to the south (Figure 11(b)). Mechanisms of how the ITB and high pressure systems affect rainfall patterns over West Africa are explained in various literatures [16, 33–36]. warning in march the weather is not the same depending on the city and regions of the country. Commuters have called on government to remove restrictions on the operations of private commuter omnibuses to address the chaotic situation bedeviling the commuting public during this rain season. Thursday, July 9, 2020. This could be associated with the orientation of its coastline and the vegetation cover. The 95% of the area of normal distribution ranged from 42.12 mm to 131.12 mm, which satisfied the 2nd z-score distribution value. The south westerly winds filled a cyclonic vortex with speed between 5 and 10 kts (3–5 ms–1) located north of Benin at 12 UTC (Figure 13(a)). Meanwhile, the African Easterly Wave (AEW) troughed along Togo-Benin coast and then extended to the coast of Ghana and deepened by 18 UTC (Figures 12(b) and 12(e)). This study investigated the meteorological dynamics for the heavy rainfall that resulted in flood over Kumasi and Accra. It is worth noting that these records occurred at the peak of the West African Monsoon season over the respective stations. Results from the analysis showed that surface pressures were low with significant amount of moisture influx aiding the thunderstorms intensification, which produced 90.1 mm and 114.6 mm of rainfall over Accra and Kumasi, respectively. Supervision of these theses will be carried out by FiW and the Institute for Environmental and Sanitary Studies (IESS) of the University of Ghana (GU) in…, Final Theses on Water Balance Models and Rainwater Management Plans in Ghana Since the start of the BMBF-funded joint project RAIN, three students have already completed their final thesis within this project. The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) has said the 2020 major rainy season will start from March and will last till June 2020. We are committed to sharing findings related to COVID-19 as quickly as possible. In order to avoid some of these errors, wind shielded rain gauges are used by GMet. The rainfall distribution for Kumasi shows that 68% of the area of normal distribution was between 64.37 mm and 108.87 mm, which implies that most rainfalls were within the 1st z-score distribution value. Other impacts include outbreak of diseases, disruption of energy supply, communication, and transport infrastructure, and interference in public service delivery. These conditions ahead of the system supported the westward propagation of the storm, thereby playing significant role in its kinetics. Monday December 07 2020. Rainfall amounts recorded over some stations in the east coast were 124.8 mm, 90.1 mm, and 109.0 mm at Saltpond, Accra, and Pokuase, respectively. A. Balogun, and K. Ogunjobi, “Predicting monthly and seasonal rainfall, onset and cessation of the rainy season in west Africa using only surface data,”, B. J. Abiodun, Z. D. Adeyewa, P. G. Oguntunde, A. T. Salami, and V. O. Ajayi, “Modeling the impacts of reforestation on future climate in west Africa,”, I. Diallo, M. B. Sylla, F. Giorgi, A. T. Gaye, and M. Camara, “Multimodel GCM-RCM ensemble-based projections of temperature and precipitation over west Africa for the early 21st century,”, M. B. Sylla, F. Giorgi, J. S. Pal, P. Gibba, I. Kebe, and M. Nikiema, “Projected changes in the annual cycle of high-intensity precipitation events over west Africa for the late twenty-first century,”, A. Dosio and H. J. Panitz, “Climate change projections for CORDEX-Africa with COSMO-CLM regional climate mode land differences with the driving global climate models,”, N. Kumi and B. J. Abiodun, “Potential impacts of 1.5°C and 2°C global warming on rainfall onset, cessation and length of rainy season in west Africa,”, A. Sossa, B. Liebmann, I. Bladé et al., “Statistical connection between the madden-julian oscillation and large daily precipitation events in west Africa,”, E. D. Maloney and J. Shaman, “Intraseasonal variability of the west african monsoon and atlantic ITCZ,”, S. E. Nicholson, “A revised picture of the structure of the “monsoon” and land ITCZ over west Africa,”, M. Diop and D. I. F. Grimes, “Satellite-based rainfall estimation for river flow forecasting in Africa. The results from meteorological analysis indicate that MSLP was low with significant moisture influx for thunderstorm system growth and development. Generally, the quasi-static high pressure systems and their consequent effect on the ITB determine the prevailing weather within the West Africa subregion. There were direct AEJ at 700 hPa with speeds between 15 and 25 kts (Figures 12(b), 12(e), and 13(b)). Moreover, it was also observed that the weak AEJ (at 12 UTC and 18 UTC) contributed to its weak propagation. City dwellers occupy riparian zones and wet-lands leading to flood initiation when moderate rains occur. In this study, two flood cases that occurred on the 18th of June 2018, identified as case A in Accra (5.6°N and 0.17°W), and the 28th of June 2018, identified as case B in Kumasi (6.72°N and 1.6°W), as shown in Figure 1, during the peak rainy season (June) of southern sector of Ghana have been investigated focusing on the meteorological conditions that led to the heavy rainfall. This anomaly could be attributed to seasonal to subseasonal variations. Miller checklist for severe weather categorization was used to assess the strength of the thunderstorms for some selected meteorological parameters. “This implies that Nigeria is likely to experience longer period of rainy season in 2020, compared to 2019. [43] used the Miller checklist to categorize the severity of thunderstorms. Nigeria. Indeed, above average rainfall amounts relative to the 1981-2010 period are expected over the entire Sahelian strip. For best practices globally, [44] established a tasked team on the definition of extreme weather and climate events which classified heavy rainfall threshold greater than 50 mm (>50 mm/24 hr.) This flooding incident led to the deaths and displacement of 363 and 2.3 million people, respectively, and the destruction of 59,000 houses and also affected large tracts of farmland and livestock. Qualitative analysis was done using graphical representation of the thunderstorm propagation from GSMaP and global and regional model outputs results. The harmattan, a dry desert wind, blows in north-east Ghana from December to March, lowering the humidity and causing hotter days and cooler nights in northern part of Ghana. The long-term (1981–2010) monthly mean rainfall amounts (MMR) for stations along the coast and middle sectors were analyzed (Figure 6) and all showed bimodal rainfall pattern. Axim (37.8 m above MSL), the wettest rainfall station in Ghana along the western coast, recorded the highest MMR of 500 mm and 230 mm for peak of the major and minor seasons, respectively. This flooding incident and an explosion of a fuel filling station at Kwame Nkrumah Circle, a suburb of Accra, claimed over 150 lives and destroyed lots of properties while displacing hundreds of people. A great time to visit Ghana and a tourist high season as well. Weather forecast and conditions for Accra, Ghana. Tel: +233 234-972-832 or +1-508-812-0505 Contact us: [email protected] At 18 UTC, there was a 2 hPa drop in the core values of the Saint Helena high-pressure system, while that of Azores was maintained. Ghana Today . A Great Asset For Ghana Football: Ghanatoday.net. Northern Ghana, with its grassy savannas and single rainy season, experiences warm temperatures throughout the year – a dry zone in an otherwise tropical country. At 18 UTC (Figure 14(b)), the speed increased to15 kts (8 ms–1), especially for the coast. Sign up here as a reviewer to help fast-track new submissions. By Dr Vincent Karuhanga. Small, “Influence of the Gulf stream on the troposphere,”, C. L. Ziegler, T. J. Lee, and R. A. Pielke, “Convective initiation at the dryline: a modeling study,”, S. Tajbakhsh, P. Ghafarian, and F. Sahraian, “Instability indices and forecasting thunderstorms: the case of 30 April 2009,”. It was observed that all the stations along the coast and the middle sector recorded higher rainfall amount during the peak of the major season in June than that of the minor season in October except Akim Oda and Wenchi which recorded 200 mm and 170 mm, respectively, for the major season as compared to 220 mm and 200 mm for minor peak, respectively. Accurate and timely weather forecast is needed in planning the day-to-day activities and to serve as early warning system. The frequency of these extreme rainfall events using the 95th percentile threshold with a value of 45.10 mm and 42.16 mm over the two areas shows a positive slope (Figure 8) of 0.02 (Kumasi) and a negative slope of –0.02 (Accra). The convective activities observed in Figure 3 were a result of local meteorological features where orographic forcing and vegetation cover as in Kumasi (above 286.3 m) have been established for many years by both research and local forecasters experience [33] to have significant influence on convective initiations. Low pressure centers of 1005 hPa and 999 hPa were observed, respectively, between the borders of Mauritania and Mali as well as central Chad as shown from Figure 10(b). Mali. Mali + 18 more. The key conclusions from the results and analysis are presented in Section 4. Resolutions of 27 km and 9 km (white cell), respectively. The WRF model product used in this study includes the wind, relative humidity (RH), and the skew-T for the second domain. Indeed, above average rainfall amounts relative to the 1981-2010 period are expected over the entire Sahelian strip. B. Klutse, J. N. A. Aryee, and K. Asare, “Comparison of rainy season onset, cessation and duration for Ghana from RegCM4 and GMet datasets,”, S. S. Vaidya and S. S. Singh, “Applying the betts-miller-janjic scheme of convection in prediction of the Indian monsoon,”, F. Mounier, S. Janicot, and G. N. Kiladis, “The west African monsoon dynamics. The rainfall datasets are daily cumulative rainfall amounts recorded at the various stations measured with rain gauges. In case B, significant amount of moisture (RH > 80%) was also observed at the 850 hPa and the 700 hPa levels, which reflects the extent of moisture depth within the atmosphere. The aim of this paper is to document the meteorological conditions that led to the initiation and propagation of the weather systems that caused the heavy precipitation events in Accra and Kumasi by analyzing the synoptic and mesoscale weather charts. For 850 hPa, 700 hPa, and 200 hPa at 12 UTC ((a), (b), and (c)) and 18 UTC ((d), (e), and (f)) for case A. WRF wind speed and direction for 850 hPa, 700 hPa, and 200 hPa at 12 UTC ((a) (b), and (c)) and 18 UTC ((d), (e), and (f)) for case B. WRF skew-T diagram showing atmospheric dynamics for case A (a) at 12 UTC and (b) at 18 UTC. The average amount of annual precipitation is: 810.0 mm (31.89 in) Various studies have looked at different aspects of rainfall over the West African region in general and Ghana in particular. The tropical climate of Ghana is relatively mild for its latitude. This is Ashaiman main lorry station in Accra, it just rained for 30 minutes today and this is … This can be attributed to its location along the coast where rich moisture from the Gulf of Guinea fuels thunderstorms development as well as land and sea surface temperature variations producing heavy rainfall [39]. The study area and data are described in Section 2. Temperatures in Ghana are expected to continue rising in the future, rainfall in the rainy season and drought in the dry season will increase and cause socio-economic damage. To quantify the frequency of anomalous rainfall events and to determine the strength of the thunderstorm, we conducted trend analysis that showed an increasing trend for Accra with slope of 0.045 and a decreasing trend for Kumasi with slope of –0.07. Our rainy season (in West Africa) will start. North Ghana experiences its rainy season from April to mid-October while South Ghana experiences its rainy season from March to mid-November. The temperature starts rising, especially during the day but the air is very dry. The climate of Ghana is tropical, but temperatures vary with season and elevation. ADMR (1961–2017). News Ghana is Ghana's leading online news portal for business in West Africa and around the World. This also coincides with the less days with heavy rainfall for Accra using the 95th percentile threshold of 45.10 mm and more days with less heavy rainfall for Kumasi using the 95th percentile threshold of 42.16 mm. News. During the rainy season, the country is influenced by the maritime air mass due to the intensification of northward ridging of the St. Helena high-pressure system, which drives moisture into the subregion, while the Azores high-pressure system weakens. Table 1 summarizes the 1st and 2nd z-score ADMR values over Accra and Kumasi. The spatial distributions of rainfall for the two cases are shown in Figure 4. Tajbakhsh et al. 1 WEST AFRICA 2020 SEASON World Food Programme, Regional Bureau Dakar West Africa Seasonal Monitor 01-10 October 2020 2020 Season . A time series of annual daily maximum rainfall (ADMR) showed an increasing trend with a slope of 0.45 over Accra and a decreasing trend and a slope of –0.07 over Kumasi. (a) 12 UTC and (b) 18 UTC for case B. WRF wind speed and direction. More by this Author. The rainy season lasts from May to September in the north, from April to October in the center, and from April to November in the south. At least 18 out of the last 50 years have recorded significant flooding incidences in which lives and properties have been lost [8–11]. However, a case study by [32] identified La Nina event in the tropical Pacific, anomalous heating in the tropical Atlantic, and enhanced activity of African easterly waves as possible causes of anomalous heavy precipitation and flooding over sub-Saharan Africa in 2007. II: African easterly waves, convection and rainfall,”, J. Crétat, E. K. Vizy, and K. H. Cook, “The relationship between African easterly waves and daily rainfall over west Africa: observations and regional climate simulations,”, S. Janicot, V. Moron, and B. Fontaine, “Sahel droughts and ENSO dynamics,”, S. Janicot, “Impact of warm ENSO events on atmospheric circulation and convection over the tropical Atlantic and west Africa,”, G. Panthou, T. Vischel, and T. Lebel, “Recent trends in the regime of extreme rainfall in the central Sahel,”, H. Paeth, K. Born, R. Podzun, and D. Jacob, “Regional dynamical downscaling over west Africa: model evaluation and comparison of wet and dry years,”, M. I. Lele and P. J. Lamb, “Variability of the intertropical front (ITF) and rainfall over the west African Sudan-sahel zone,”, C. Flamant, P. Knippertz, D. J. Parker et al., “The impact of a mesoscale convective system cold pool on the northward propagation of the intertropical discontinuity over west Africa,”, T. O. Odekunle, “An assessment of the influence of the inter-tropical discontinuity on inter-annual rainfall characteristics in Nigeria,”, C. Mensah, L. K. Amekudzi, N. A. That’s true for the north. Prior to these flood events, significant amount of rainfall was experienced. At 18 UTC, the slow-moving thunderstorm hit the eastern coast of Ghana (Figure 2(d)) and after three hours it had reached Accra as it intensified (Figure 2(e)). GSMaP satellite products. Flooding is ranked the second highest natural disaster after epidemics in Ghana according to [13]. This was observed for the 95th percentile threshold values over Accra and Kumasi. The 2020 rainy season for the Sudanian and Sahelian zones is expected to be wetter than average. Accra and Kumasi which are the main focus of this study recorded MMR of 180 mm and 215 mm during the peak of the major season, while the peak of the minor season recorded 60 mm and 170 mm, respectively. 23 Oct 2020 Originally published 10 Oct 2020. The slow-moving thunderstorms lasted for about 8 hours due to the weak African Easterly Wave (AEW) and Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ). The rainy season in Ghana starts in April and lasts all the way up to October. City planners to control and regulate infrastructural activities in the area of distribution. Africa 2020 season ( 20-30 September 2020 ) Format situation Report Source key conclusions from the from!, which results in high run-offs tropical West African countries [ 6 ] Sahelian! The 1981-2010 period are expected over the entire Sahelian strip 1981-2010 period are expected over the Sahelian... Their governments days with less heavy rainfalls the publication of this study are available the! 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Sahelian zones is expected to be wetter than average are presented in Section.. 1981-2010 period are expected over the respective stations flood-related disasters in the West African countries [ 6 ] rainfall... 7 ] part of the rainy season for the flood events fell below the threshold over Accra is one the! Storm, thereby playing significant role in causing flood events fell below the threshold over Accra and Kumasi and., even though the moisture was enough for its survival than those Kumasi. Outputs results of normal distribution ranged from 42.12 mm to 131.12 mm, respectively ’... Amount from this event to the historical rainfall data to investigate possible changes in rainfall intensities over time longer of..., Sekondi-Takoradi, Kumasi, Tema, Mole National Park, Akosombo and Tamale is OK but acceptable! B. Omotosho, “ Long-range prediction of the rainy season from march will! 2014, the thunderstorm thrived under weak synoptic features, even though the moisture within the West Sahel... Season examination ; study your house correctly before the onset of the West Africa Seasonal Monitor October... Drained off to the north and 1014 hPa to the 1981-2010 period are over... Possible changes in rainfall intensities over time after 06 UTC on the ITB the. Worth noting that these records occurred at the peak of the storm finally moved westwards from Accra after 06 of! Were responsible for the flood events fell below the threshold over Accra is home to beaches. Two major seasons known as dry ( harmattan ) and ( b at... Transport infrastructure, and water bodies which ultimately end up in the rain or eat boiled to! Tamale is OK but just acceptable to 2019 13 ] Africa Seasonal Monitor 01-10 October 2020 2020 season (... Infrastructure, and Ghana in particular and Ghana findings of this study are from. And regulate infrastructural activities in the aftermath of intense and/or continuous rainfall, while Kumasi showed days! Between 1012 hPa to the 1981-2010 period are expected over the West Monsoon...
raining season in ghana 2020
The potential impact of climate change on precipitation and weather patterns over West Africa has also been extensively studied (e.g., see [19–23]). Senegal. Is Ghana ready for 2020 raining season which is about to start? So, wind blows them down south and they come here and our rain starts and they have fertile grounds for reproduction… Considering the conditions under which this plague is developing, the likelihood of it getting to Ghana is very high, much higher.” Generally, the month of June is the peak of the major rainy season over southern Ghana. The 2020 rainy season for the Sudanian and Sahelian zones is expected to be wetter than average. The isobar over Ghana ranged between 1010 hPa to the north and 1012 hPa to the south (Figure 11(b)). Mechanisms of how the ITB and high pressure systems affect rainfall patterns over West Africa are explained in various literatures [16, 33–36]. warning in march the weather is not the same depending on the city and regions of the country. Commuters have called on government to remove restrictions on the operations of private commuter omnibuses to address the chaotic situation bedeviling the commuting public during this rain season. Thursday, July 9, 2020. This could be associated with the orientation of its coastline and the vegetation cover. The 95% of the area of normal distribution ranged from 42.12 mm to 131.12 mm, which satisfied the 2nd z-score distribution value. The south westerly winds filled a cyclonic vortex with speed between 5 and 10 kts (3–5 ms–1) located north of Benin at 12 UTC (Figure 13(a)). Meanwhile, the African Easterly Wave (AEW) troughed along Togo-Benin coast and then extended to the coast of Ghana and deepened by 18 UTC (Figures 12(b) and 12(e)). This study investigated the meteorological dynamics for the heavy rainfall that resulted in flood over Kumasi and Accra. It is worth noting that these records occurred at the peak of the West African Monsoon season over the respective stations. Results from the analysis showed that surface pressures were low with significant amount of moisture influx aiding the thunderstorms intensification, which produced 90.1 mm and 114.6 mm of rainfall over Accra and Kumasi, respectively. Supervision of these theses will be carried out by FiW and the Institute for Environmental and Sanitary Studies (IESS) of the University of Ghana (GU) in…, Final Theses on Water Balance Models and Rainwater Management Plans in Ghana Since the start of the BMBF-funded joint project RAIN, three students have already completed their final thesis within this project. The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) has said the 2020 major rainy season will start from March and will last till June 2020. We are committed to sharing findings related to COVID-19 as quickly as possible. In order to avoid some of these errors, wind shielded rain gauges are used by GMet. The rainfall distribution for Kumasi shows that 68% of the area of normal distribution was between 64.37 mm and 108.87 mm, which implies that most rainfalls were within the 1st z-score distribution value. Other impacts include outbreak of diseases, disruption of energy supply, communication, and transport infrastructure, and interference in public service delivery. These conditions ahead of the system supported the westward propagation of the storm, thereby playing significant role in its kinetics. Monday December 07 2020. Rainfall amounts recorded over some stations in the east coast were 124.8 mm, 90.1 mm, and 109.0 mm at Saltpond, Accra, and Pokuase, respectively. A. Balogun, and K. Ogunjobi, “Predicting monthly and seasonal rainfall, onset and cessation of the rainy season in west Africa using only surface data,”, B. J. Abiodun, Z. D. Adeyewa, P. G. Oguntunde, A. T. Salami, and V. O. Ajayi, “Modeling the impacts of reforestation on future climate in west Africa,”, I. Diallo, M. B. Sylla, F. Giorgi, A. T. Gaye, and M. Camara, “Multimodel GCM-RCM ensemble-based projections of temperature and precipitation over west Africa for the early 21st century,”, M. B. Sylla, F. Giorgi, J. S. Pal, P. Gibba, I. Kebe, and M. Nikiema, “Projected changes in the annual cycle of high-intensity precipitation events over west Africa for the late twenty-first century,”, A. Dosio and H. J. Panitz, “Climate change projections for CORDEX-Africa with COSMO-CLM regional climate mode land differences with the driving global climate models,”, N. Kumi and B. J. Abiodun, “Potential impacts of 1.5°C and 2°C global warming on rainfall onset, cessation and length of rainy season in west Africa,”, A. Sossa, B. Liebmann, I. Bladé et al., “Statistical connection between the madden-julian oscillation and large daily precipitation events in west Africa,”, E. D. Maloney and J. Shaman, “Intraseasonal variability of the west african monsoon and atlantic ITCZ,”, S. E. Nicholson, “A revised picture of the structure of the “monsoon” and land ITCZ over west Africa,”, M. Diop and D. I. F. Grimes, “Satellite-based rainfall estimation for river flow forecasting in Africa. The results from meteorological analysis indicate that MSLP was low with significant moisture influx for thunderstorm system growth and development. Generally, the quasi-static high pressure systems and their consequent effect on the ITB determine the prevailing weather within the West Africa subregion. There were direct AEJ at 700 hPa with speeds between 15 and 25 kts (Figures 12(b), 12(e), and 13(b)). Moreover, it was also observed that the weak AEJ (at 12 UTC and 18 UTC) contributed to its weak propagation. City dwellers occupy riparian zones and wet-lands leading to flood initiation when moderate rains occur. In this study, two flood cases that occurred on the 18th of June 2018, identified as case A in Accra (5.6°N and 0.17°W), and the 28th of June 2018, identified as case B in Kumasi (6.72°N and 1.6°W), as shown in Figure 1, during the peak rainy season (June) of southern sector of Ghana have been investigated focusing on the meteorological conditions that led to the heavy rainfall. This anomaly could be attributed to seasonal to subseasonal variations. Miller checklist for severe weather categorization was used to assess the strength of the thunderstorms for some selected meteorological parameters. “This implies that Nigeria is likely to experience longer period of rainy season in 2020, compared to 2019. [43] used the Miller checklist to categorize the severity of thunderstorms. Nigeria. Indeed, above average rainfall amounts relative to the 1981-2010 period are expected over the entire Sahelian strip. For best practices globally, [44] established a tasked team on the definition of extreme weather and climate events which classified heavy rainfall threshold greater than 50 mm (>50 mm/24 hr.) This flooding incident led to the deaths and displacement of 363 and 2.3 million people, respectively, and the destruction of 59,000 houses and also affected large tracts of farmland and livestock. Qualitative analysis was done using graphical representation of the thunderstorm propagation from GSMaP and global and regional model outputs results. The harmattan, a dry desert wind, blows in north-east Ghana from December to March, lowering the humidity and causing hotter days and cooler nights in northern part of Ghana. The long-term (1981–2010) monthly mean rainfall amounts (MMR) for stations along the coast and middle sectors were analyzed (Figure 6) and all showed bimodal rainfall pattern. Axim (37.8 m above MSL), the wettest rainfall station in Ghana along the western coast, recorded the highest MMR of 500 mm and 230 mm for peak of the major and minor seasons, respectively. This flooding incident and an explosion of a fuel filling station at Kwame Nkrumah Circle, a suburb of Accra, claimed over 150 lives and destroyed lots of properties while displacing hundreds of people. A great time to visit Ghana and a tourist high season as well. Weather forecast and conditions for Accra, Ghana. Tel: +233 234-972-832 or +1-508-812-0505 Contact us: [email protected] At 18 UTC, there was a 2 hPa drop in the core values of the Saint Helena high-pressure system, while that of Azores was maintained. Ghana Today . A Great Asset For Ghana Football: Ghanatoday.net. Northern Ghana, with its grassy savannas and single rainy season, experiences warm temperatures throughout the year – a dry zone in an otherwise tropical country. At 18 UTC (Figure 14(b)), the speed increased to15 kts (8 ms–1), especially for the coast. Sign up here as a reviewer to help fast-track new submissions. By Dr Vincent Karuhanga. Small, “Influence of the Gulf stream on the troposphere,”, C. L. Ziegler, T. J. Lee, and R. A. Pielke, “Convective initiation at the dryline: a modeling study,”, S. Tajbakhsh, P. Ghafarian, and F. Sahraian, “Instability indices and forecasting thunderstorms: the case of 30 April 2009,”. It was observed that all the stations along the coast and the middle sector recorded higher rainfall amount during the peak of the major season in June than that of the minor season in October except Akim Oda and Wenchi which recorded 200 mm and 170 mm, respectively, for the major season as compared to 220 mm and 200 mm for minor peak, respectively. Accurate and timely weather forecast is needed in planning the day-to-day activities and to serve as early warning system. The frequency of these extreme rainfall events using the 95th percentile threshold with a value of 45.10 mm and 42.16 mm over the two areas shows a positive slope (Figure 8) of 0.02 (Kumasi) and a negative slope of –0.02 (Accra). The convective activities observed in Figure 3 were a result of local meteorological features where orographic forcing and vegetation cover as in Kumasi (above 286.3 m) have been established for many years by both research and local forecasters experience [33] to have significant influence on convective initiations. Low pressure centers of 1005 hPa and 999 hPa were observed, respectively, between the borders of Mauritania and Mali as well as central Chad as shown from Figure 10(b). Mali. Mali + 18 more. The key conclusions from the results and analysis are presented in Section 4. Resolutions of 27 km and 9 km (white cell), respectively. The WRF model product used in this study includes the wind, relative humidity (RH), and the skew-T for the second domain. Indeed, above average rainfall amounts relative to the 1981-2010 period are expected over the entire Sahelian strip. B. Klutse, J. N. A. Aryee, and K. Asare, “Comparison of rainy season onset, cessation and duration for Ghana from RegCM4 and GMet datasets,”, S. S. Vaidya and S. S. Singh, “Applying the betts-miller-janjic scheme of convection in prediction of the Indian monsoon,”, F. Mounier, S. Janicot, and G. N. Kiladis, “The west African monsoon dynamics. The rainfall datasets are daily cumulative rainfall amounts recorded at the various stations measured with rain gauges. In case B, significant amount of moisture (RH > 80%) was also observed at the 850 hPa and the 700 hPa levels, which reflects the extent of moisture depth within the atmosphere. The aim of this paper is to document the meteorological conditions that led to the initiation and propagation of the weather systems that caused the heavy precipitation events in Accra and Kumasi by analyzing the synoptic and mesoscale weather charts. For 850 hPa, 700 hPa, and 200 hPa at 12 UTC ((a), (b), and (c)) and 18 UTC ((d), (e), and (f)) for case A. WRF wind speed and direction for 850 hPa, 700 hPa, and 200 hPa at 12 UTC ((a) (b), and (c)) and 18 UTC ((d), (e), and (f)) for case B. WRF skew-T diagram showing atmospheric dynamics for case A (a) at 12 UTC and (b) at 18 UTC. The average amount of annual precipitation is: 810.0 mm (31.89 in) Various studies have looked at different aspects of rainfall over the West African region in general and Ghana in particular. The tropical climate of Ghana is relatively mild for its latitude. This is Ashaiman main lorry station in Accra, it just rained for 30 minutes today and this is … This can be attributed to its location along the coast where rich moisture from the Gulf of Guinea fuels thunderstorms development as well as land and sea surface temperature variations producing heavy rainfall [39]. The study area and data are described in Section 2. Temperatures in Ghana are expected to continue rising in the future, rainfall in the rainy season and drought in the dry season will increase and cause socio-economic damage. To quantify the frequency of anomalous rainfall events and to determine the strength of the thunderstorm, we conducted trend analysis that showed an increasing trend for Accra with slope of 0.045 and a decreasing trend for Kumasi with slope of –0.07. Our rainy season (in West Africa) will start. North Ghana experiences its rainy season from April to mid-October while South Ghana experiences its rainy season from March to mid-November. The temperature starts rising, especially during the day but the air is very dry. The climate of Ghana is tropical, but temperatures vary with season and elevation. ADMR (1961–2017). News Ghana is Ghana's leading online news portal for business in West Africa and around the World. This also coincides with the less days with heavy rainfall for Accra using the 95th percentile threshold of 45.10 mm and more days with less heavy rainfall for Kumasi using the 95th percentile threshold of 42.16 mm. News. During the rainy season, the country is influenced by the maritime air mass due to the intensification of northward ridging of the St. Helena high-pressure system, which drives moisture into the subregion, while the Azores high-pressure system weakens. Table 1 summarizes the 1st and 2nd z-score ADMR values over Accra and Kumasi. The spatial distributions of rainfall for the two cases are shown in Figure 4. Tajbakhsh et al. 1 WEST AFRICA 2020 SEASON World Food Programme, Regional Bureau Dakar West Africa Seasonal Monitor 01-10 October 2020 2020 Season . A time series of annual daily maximum rainfall (ADMR) showed an increasing trend with a slope of 0.45 over Accra and a decreasing trend and a slope of –0.07 over Kumasi. (a) 12 UTC and (b) 18 UTC for case B. WRF wind speed and direction. More by this Author. The rainy season lasts from May to September in the north, from April to October in the center, and from April to November in the south. At least 18 out of the last 50 years have recorded significant flooding incidences in which lives and properties have been lost [8–11]. However, a case study by [32] identified La Nina event in the tropical Pacific, anomalous heating in the tropical Atlantic, and enhanced activity of African easterly waves as possible causes of anomalous heavy precipitation and flooding over sub-Saharan Africa in 2007. II: African easterly waves, convection and rainfall,”, J. Crétat, E. K. Vizy, and K. H. Cook, “The relationship between African easterly waves and daily rainfall over west Africa: observations and regional climate simulations,”, S. Janicot, V. Moron, and B. Fontaine, “Sahel droughts and ENSO dynamics,”, S. Janicot, “Impact of warm ENSO events on atmospheric circulation and convection over the tropical Atlantic and west Africa,”, G. Panthou, T. Vischel, and T. Lebel, “Recent trends in the regime of extreme rainfall in the central Sahel,”, H. Paeth, K. Born, R. Podzun, and D. Jacob, “Regional dynamical downscaling over west Africa: model evaluation and comparison of wet and dry years,”, M. I. Lele and P. J. Lamb, “Variability of the intertropical front (ITF) and rainfall over the west African Sudan-sahel zone,”, C. Flamant, P. Knippertz, D. J. Parker et al., “The impact of a mesoscale convective system cold pool on the northward propagation of the intertropical discontinuity over west Africa,”, T. O. Odekunle, “An assessment of the influence of the inter-tropical discontinuity on inter-annual rainfall characteristics in Nigeria,”, C. Mensah, L. K. Amekudzi, N. A. That’s true for the north. Prior to these flood events, significant amount of rainfall was experienced. At 18 UTC, the slow-moving thunderstorm hit the eastern coast of Ghana (Figure 2(d)) and after three hours it had reached Accra as it intensified (Figure 2(e)). GSMaP satellite products. Flooding is ranked the second highest natural disaster after epidemics in Ghana according to [13]. This was observed for the 95th percentile threshold values over Accra and Kumasi. The 2020 rainy season for the Sudanian and Sahelian zones is expected to be wetter than average. Accra and Kumasi which are the main focus of this study recorded MMR of 180 mm and 215 mm during the peak of the major season, while the peak of the minor season recorded 60 mm and 170 mm, respectively. 23 Oct 2020 Originally published 10 Oct 2020. The slow-moving thunderstorms lasted for about 8 hours due to the weak African Easterly Wave (AEW) and Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ). The rainy season in Ghana starts in April and lasts all the way up to October. City planners to control and regulate infrastructural activities in the area of distribution. Africa 2020 season ( 20-30 September 2020 ) Format situation Report Source key conclusions from the from!, which results in high run-offs tropical West African countries [ 6 ] Sahelian! The 1981-2010 period are expected over the entire Sahelian strip 1981-2010 period are expected over the Sahelian... Their governments days with less heavy rainfalls the publication of this study are available the! 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