Evaluation of Drought Pattern, Duration and Intensity in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

This paper was designed to examine the nature, duration and intensity of drought in northern Nigeria. Mean monthly and annual rainfall was used for this study and only stations with rainfall record of thirty four years in the region was used for the analysis. All the rainfall records were collected from Nigerian Meteorological Agency. Meteorological Drought Monitoring software version 1.0 was used to calculate Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) while trend analysis was used to examine rainfall trend of all the selected stations. Longest dry spell duration (LDSD), Drought Tendency (DT) and Average Dry Spell Duration (ADSD) was used to calculate Dry Spell Duration while Standard Total Cumulative Dry Spell (STCD) and Average Dry Spell Index (ADSI) were applied to calculate drought intensity. Result of SPI analysis revealed that, Abuja has a moderately wet drought nature while Nguru Station is characterized with extremely dry condition. Maiduguri, Sokoto and Potiskum on the other hand displayed a moderately dry condition while, Katsina recorded a severely dry condition. Bauchi and Katsina has the longest dry spell duration which recorded frequent dry spell of 10 years consistently while Gusau, Ibi, Kano, Maiduguri and Sokoto stations recorded consistently 6 years dry spell. Cultivation of drought resistance crop and planting of trees is recommended especially in the drought affected zones. Deforestation and bush burning in Northern Nigeria should be discouraged.