Meteorological droughts in semi-arid Eastern Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to establish the occurrence and magnitude of droughts in semiarid Eastern Kenya. The study utilized gridded and in situ rainfall data sets for the period 1973–2013. Majority of droughts in Eastern Kenya are moderate. Stations close to Mt Kenya region experienced more droughts during the MAM season, while those in the lowlands had the highest number of droughts during the OND season. The occurrence rate of moderate drought is higher during OND (18%) than during MAM (10%). The lowlands of Tharaka-Nithi and Kitui counties had the highest occurrence rate of severe droughts during MAM and OND, respectively. There was no discernible pattern in occurrence of drought between gridded and in situ data during MAM. However, there was a variation in the occurrence rate of OND droughts between in situ and gridded data. There is a need to tap into the potential of MAM given the season's lower vulnerability to drought.