Anomalies and trend analysis of temperature and rainfall in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examines the anomalies and trends of climatic variables (rainfall and temperature). The data were sourced from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency from 1974 – 2014. The data was subjected to normality tests; Rainfall Anomaly Index, Standardized Anomaly Index, Linear times series, and descriptive statistics. The results revealed that the Rainfall Anomaly Index indicates humid characteristics, there are more years of positive than negative anomalies for both rainfall and temperature. The trend of annual rainfall and mean temperature indicates an increasing pattern at the rate of 0.0361mm year-1and 0.0248 ^oC year^-1respectively. There is no significant difference between maximum and minimum temperatures. The highest temperatures were recorded between April and May and the maximum rainfall was recorded between June and August. The trend of monthly rainfall indicates increasing trends except for April which revealed a decreasing trend at the rate of -0.25mm year^-1 The study concludes that the rates of increase of rainfall series vary from one month to another, the month of July has the highest rate 2.14mm year^-1 of increase for rainfall series during the study period. The study recommends that flood coping strategies should be adopted and also encourage urban tree planting to sequester carbon dioxide.