Weather
For visitors and non-visitors alike, the weather is important. The weather in Western Kenya is determined by the geography and by the presence of Lake Victoria's huge body of water. Before looking at these different regions, let's look at the seasons. Kenya does not experience seasons as higher latitudes do. No Summer - Fall - Winter - Spring cycle. Instead there is a yearly Dry - Wet - Dry - Wet cycle. The cause is the sun that, where it stands almost directly overhead, heats the ground to the point that large thunderstorms start building up. These storms are accompanied by lots of rain: the rain season. Since the sun (apparently) 'moves' from North to South back to North it passed the equator twice a year. Kenya hence has two rain seasons. One, the Long Rains, is from half March to May. The other one, the Short Rains, is less well-defined and less predictable but should happen October and November.
With 'Rain Season' don't think of day-long rains like an Asian Monsoon season. In Western Kenya the rain season manifest itselves with clear mornings, gradual build-up of clouds during the day and heavy showers in the late afternoon and evening.
Now, while risking over-simplification, let's look at different area's in Western Kenya.
- North of Kapenguria - In the North the climate is dry. Clear and cold nights, hot days. Vegetation is particular for arid regions.
- Middle section around Kakamega is high and has more rain than the Northern areas. The Kakamega Rain Forest is not there for nothing! Vegetation is lush, you have never seen so many shades of green. Days can be warm, but cooler after rains the previous night. Nights are cool. Take a sweater or fleece and an umbrella.
- Lake area - Lake Victoria has a large influence. The most notable one is the wind: there is a daily cycle that is wholy determined by the lake. During the day the wind is on-shore (West for Kenya) and during the night off-shore (East). The wind usually turns between 1000h and 1100h in the morning and back not long after sunset. In addition, built-up storms come from the Nandi Hills towards the lake near Kisumu during the afternoon. This can happen also during the dry season!
If by whatever means you want to go out on the Lake, beware of the weather. It is unpredictable and can change very quickly. The storms cause havoc even among the local fishermen who are used to them!
On shore the weather is hot during day-time and pleasant during the night. - High lands and mountains - Mount Elgon, the Cherengani Hills and the Nandi Hills are high enough to influence the weather patterns. This results in more rains and colder nights. Tea thrives in this climate and that's why in the Nandis and around Kericho you'll see the lush light green color of the tea bushes everywhere. Mount Elgon is very high and even has high alpine vegetation. It is often hidden in cloud cover and at high altitudes can be pretty wet. If you want to go there prepare yourself well. See Elgon's own page.
Warning: you are very near the equator. The equatorial sun is not something to ignore, its power is much larger here than e.g. in Europe. Use a hat, cover your shoulders, use plenty of high-factor sun cream or sun block. Think factor 30 rather than factor 8!
The Kenya Meteorological Department has more information. In addition, here is a current weather report (with a link to a forecast) based on the measurements at the Kisumu Airport.
Advertisements
See this page if you want to use (in any way) something published on this web site