West African monsoon: is the August break “breaking” in the eastern humid zone of Southern Nigeria?

In July, heating of the continents in the Northern Hemisphere results in strengthened monsoon systems which bring rains to West Africa. In Nigeria, the annual rainfall total decreases from over 3,800 mm at Forcados on the coast to under 650 mm at Maiduguri in the north-east of the country. June, July, August and September are the rainiest months throughout the country. In many parts of the south, however, there is “supposed to be” a slight break in the rains for some 2 to 3 weeks in late July and early August or the so called “August break”. In this study, we are underscoring the obvious that climate is changing. The daily series of rainfall data for 1983–2003 analyzed between the months of July–August for some sites in the Eastern humid zone of Southern Nigeria shows that the “August break” may indeed “be breaking”. We have discussed some practical approaches to climate change research in this monsoon region.

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