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| Caption: CHRS iRain estimated rainfall over the past 72 hours (October 9) in West Africa |
In a typical year, the rainy season in the Sahel (north of 10 N) begins in June and runs through September. Then the rain will shut off for the next 8 months and crystal blue skies unless there are dust storms or biomass burning (another story) However, this year has been very different, especially in the Western Sahel... Senegal in particular. June and most of July were very dry causing major concerns for farmers, however, August and September turned very wet. Sometime about September 20th it appeared the dry season was making its entrance, but then around October 1st rain began falling again. The rain has not stopped and it has rain as far north at Mauritania (very unusual). For example, satellite estimates show that heavy rain has fallen over both Senegal and Mauritania in just the last 72 hours and for the past 3 days in parts of Senegal and the past 24 hours in Mauritania.
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| Caption: CHRS Satellite estimated Rainfall in Senegal |
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| Caption: Satellite estimated rainfall in Mauritania (Oct 6-9, 201) |
On the night of October 2 through October 3, 2019 a very strong Mesoscale Convective system moved through Senegal and caused a significant amount of damage in Dakar, the capital. We might expect this in July or August but not in October. The damage was documented on Facebook by La Meteo Dakaroise de Riad and is pretty incredible.
https://www.facebook.com/meteodakaroise/videos/530636927765427/
There are real implications for vector-borne disease (especially Malaria) of being wetter in Senegal and warmer than normal across most of Africa during this wet season. September was the warmest month on record..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/10/04/earth-just-experienced-its-hottest-september-heads-record-books/
Hopefully, the rain will break soon, but the models are suggesting several strong easterly waves over the next 10 days which could bring more rain. Stay tuned.
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