Most Lagos residents woke up about 6:00 a.m. yesterday morning to meet heavy rains, which lasted for 30 minutes. The rains could not have come at a better time since the weather had been very hot and humid, which meant that people sweated profusely. The rains brought huge relief- the temperature and humidity has dropped.
But meteorologists say it is not yet rainy season, and that Lagosians are going to experience, in a couple of days, another outburst of dust. Former Chief Meteorologist with the Central Forecast Office of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Mr. Cyprian Okoloye, told The Guardian: “The cloud shower is actually not enough to result to rainy season. We cannot expect rainy season.”
Okoloye, who is now a consultant on weather, climate and environment in the aviation industry said: “ It is not rainy season yet. We are going to experience another outburst of dust in a couple of days.”
Okoloye and his team of researchers in a recent study published in Journal of Meteorology and Climate Science titled “Rainfall Variability and the Recent Climate Extremes in Nigeria” noted: “ Weather patterns affecting the country are driven by the northward and southward movement of the Inter-Tropical Discontinuity (ITD) as well as developments within the pressure systems created by the two distinct wind regimes north and south of the ITD…”
However, unlike the first rains, which came mid January, yesterday’s rain was isolated in Lagos and across the country. The Guardian reliably gathered that there were no rains in Ibadan, Ilorin, Onitsha and most other parts of the country.
The Guardian investigations reveal that the hot and humid conditions being witnessed in Lagos and most parts of the country were due to El Nino.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners predict a major global increase in health-related emergencies this year due to El Niño, a warming of the central to eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, which affects rainfall patterns and temperatures in many parts of the world but most intensely in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, which are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards.
