Climatology of Mombasa

 Mombasa, Kenya started collecting data on the climate in 1890 at a station on the shore of the Indian Ocean.  Since that time the area has slowly been adding stations to monitor the climatology of the area.  By 1920 Mombasa had records on the temperatures, daily hours of sun, the amount of cloud coverage, and the wind speeds of the area.  The area is rather humid but has wet seasons and dry seasons where the relative humidity will fluctuate.

Because of Kenya’s location it is very vulnerable to climate change and the effects.  This is attributed to three factors.  The first of these factors is the low altitude of the area.  Since the area is only 45 meters above sea level, which will leave it underwater when the sea levels rise.  Not only would the water on the beaches cause the city to be submerged but so would the two rivers that cut off a good part of Mombasa to the mainland.  The second factor that would make the area vulnerable is the higher temperatures that will come for the already hot area.  Finally, the humidity would too rise for the area with global climate change.

Kenya has such a dynamic climate that can change over short distances in large ways.  While Mombasa is on the coast and is a partial island it is surrounded by so many different environments that play into the why the weather moves throughout the area.  There are convergence zones that are caused by lakes, topography and many other things.  The change between desert and rainforest all play a large role in the way the regional weather works.  These factors help with the movement of the ITCZ (which brings in the monsoons).  However, Nicholson, prepossess there is a third maximum rainfall occurring during July or August, but the reason for this not yet completely understood and will have to be studied more to completely understand the complex weather patterns. 

The mean average rainfall for Mombasa is 99mm for November, but the rainfall in November of 1961 was 217mm.  This was an extremely heavy amount of rain for one month, but similar conditions occurred in 1963 with just a little less rainfall.  The time scale for heavy rainfall years is on a three to five year fluctuations, but has its strongest peak at five to six year intervals.

Mombasa has shown to be more interesting than originally thought.  The area has so much that plays into from the warm water currents on the coast line that cause high precipitation in the area during warm times of the year, to the diverse topography and the ITCZ of the area all play a huge role in the complex climate of the area.