Question
“One question I’ve been meaning to ask is about weather. I remember you said it would be rainy season when you arrived…. how often has it rained since you’ve been there? How is that handled? muddy roads? umbrellas? does it rain a certain time of day like in other tropical places?”
Response
The rainy season continued till about mid-June; it rained every morning. Because they have to deal with rain every day for half the year, (split into two rainy seasons) people dislike it very much. Here, it’s perfectly acceptable to wait until the rain stops before going in to work. The rain makes some roads impassable, and roads and paths on hills become very slippery. The ubiquitous potholes fill with rusty-red water, colored by sediment. Drying clothes takes a long time if it doesn’t get sunny early enough in the day. Rainwater harvesting is often practiced, if only by putting a gerry can where the water drips down from the roof. This water is used for household needs.
It is now the dry season, though Maama was expecting rain to come on the 13 of July but it rained last week (7th July). She said something about the waxing moon bringing rain during this time, but the patterns have been changing. The farmers in Bulayi have noticed changes in the weather patterns as well; it’s been harder for them to predict the rainy seasons in order to plant their crops at the appropriate times.
The dry season means a lot of dust, though it isn’t bad unless you’re by a road. The roads are framed by rusty-red-tinted trees and grasses because of the dust the cars disturb.
Overall I love the weather. The air is dry and cool and as long as you’re not by the exhaust fumes of a town, it is very fresh. I love my morning walk to work, enjoying the cool air. In the direct sun, however, it gets very hot, so I hope for clouds until I reach work.
The rainy season will begin again 15 August, but it might go until middle of September without rain; October should be the rainiest. The fall rainy season is different: the sun shines brightly in the morning and the water vapor rises and so it rains in the afternoon/evening.
Yesterday there was an article by Gerald Tenywa entitled “Rainy seasons have changed – report” published in The New Vision. The article was about a report called “Turning up the Heat: Climate Change and Poverty in Uganda” which was to be released on the 17th by Oxfam (the International NGO). The report documents how the rainy seasons have changed over the past two decades. Some excerpts as quoted in the paper:
“Most of the current warming is being driven by outpouring of green house gases from coal, oil, and gas that powered the industrial revolutions in Europe and the US from about 150 years ago,” said the report. This has caused rainfall patterns in Uganda to become erratic and destructive.
“On one hand is the more erratic rainfall in the March to June season, bringing drought and reductions in crop yields … while on the other is the rainfall towards the end of the year, coming in more intense and destructive downpours bringing floods, landslides and soil erosion”
“The crucial effect then, is that the growing period for crops is shortened.”
There is little or no scientific evidence of less rainfall in total but that it is less useful because of its distribution and impact. The erratic rains are heavier and more violent.
Hopefully this answers your weather related questions.
