Patterns of Dekadal Rainfall Variation Over a Selected Region in Lake Victoria Basin, Uganda

Abstract

Understanding variations in rainfall in tropical regions is important due to its impacts on water resources, health and agriculture. This study assessed the dekadal rainfall patterns and rain days to determine intra-seasonal rainfall variability during the March–May season using the Mann–Kendall ( M K ) trend test and simple linear regression ( S L R ) over the period 2000–2015. Results showed an increasing trend of both dekadal rainfall amount and rain days (third and seventh dekads). The light rain days ( S L R = 0.181; M K = 0.350) and wet days ( S L R = 0.092; M K = 0.118) also depict an increasing trend. The rate of increase of light rain days and wet days during the third dekad (light rain days: S L R = 0.020; M K = 0.279 and wet days: S L R = 0.146; M K = 0.376) was slightly greater than during the seventh dekad (light rain days: S L R = 0.014; M K = 0.018 and wet days: S L R = 0.061; M K = 0.315) dekad. Seventy-four percent accounted for 2–4 consecutive dry days, but no significant trend was detected. The extreme rainfall was increasing over the third ( M K = 0.363) and seventh ( M K = 0.429) dekads. The rainfall amount and rain days were highly correlated (r: 0.43–0.72).

Keywords

• rain days
• wet days
• light rain days
• dekadal rainfall
• intra-season rainfall variation