Exploration & description/Daily rainfall

We first need to look at tables of daily rainfall by day and month as explained in Chapter 4 of the INSTAT Climatic Guide (Stern et al. 2006). An example is shown alongside from July 1994 to June 1995. One of the things we shall be looking for is an indication of the start of rains, which typically occurs in the middle of November.

The first major rainfall from July onwards fell on 15th October and again on 31st October. The first major rain in November occurred on the 29th and no further large rainfall occurred until 26th December. The long period from 15th October to 26th December suggests that the October readings were either premature indications of the start of rains or due to faulty recording. We conclude that the start of rains in this year occurred on 29th November.