Climatology
This page presents Kenya's climate context for the current climatology, 1991-2020, derived from observed, historical data. Information should be used to build a strong understanding of current climate conditions in order to appreciate future climate scenarios and projected change. You can visualize data for the current climatology through spatial variation, the seasonal cycle, or as a time series. Analysis is available for both annual and seasonal data. Data presentation defaults to national-scale aggregation, however sub-national data aggregations can be accessed by clicking within a country, on a sub-national unit. Other historical climatologies can be selected from the Time Period dropdown list.
Observed, historical data is produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia. Data is presented at a 0.5º x 0.5º (50km x 50km) resolution.
Kenya’s temperatures vary dramatically, with the highlands experiencing considerably cooler temperatures than the coastal and lowland regions. Kenya’s average annual precipitation is typically 680 mm, ranging from less than 250 mm in the northern ASALs areas to about 2,000 mm in the western region. The high rainfall zone, which receives more than 1,000 mm of annual rainfall is the productive agricultural land. It occupies less than 20 per cent of the country’s land area and carries approximately 80 per cent of the population.