TITLE:
Rainfall Variability and Droughts in the Drylands of Baringo County, Kenya
AUTHORS:
Richard Ochieng, Charles Recha, Bockline Omedo Bebe, George Morara Ogendi
KEYWORDS:
Drought, Standard Anomalies, MAM Rainfall, OND Rainfall
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.4 No.8,
August
4,
2017
ABSTRACT: The study was undertaken to determine rainfall variability and droughts in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) of Baringo County. The study used rainfall data for Perkerra Agricultural Research Station (LM5) and Nginyang rainfall station (IL6) for the period 1970-2008 and 1974-2013 respectively. Standardized anomalies were calculated and plotted to establish trends of drought events across the study period. Plots of rainfall data from the two stations displayed an oscillating trend with major rainfall peaks being observed in 1977 and 2007 for Perkerra, 1982 and 1997 for Nginyang. Analysis of rainfall data from the two stations indicates four catastrophic drought periods recognized with standard anomalies of less than-0.9 (SA (t)