Dynamics and Areal Patterns of Early Rainy Season in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

Rainstorms provide water for domestic uses and farming in urban areas. Research on rainstormcharacteristics relevant to moisture availability for agricultural purposes has concentrated mainlyonseasonality and variability. The amounts of moisture available in any place are determined by theraininput and loss to evaporation. The study of rainstorm characteristics and their interrelationship havenot
been addressed in the previous studies. This study examined the causal relationship between rainstormcharacteristics-duration of rainstorms, rainfall amount, speed and areal extent of rainstorms overdifferential topography and landuse in Ibadan, Nigeria. Daily rainstorm data, particularly duration, rainfall amount and speed of rainstorms were processed for fifty rain gauge stations over a two-yearperiod (2013 to 2014). The areal extent of rainstorms was determined using the square method. Datacollected were aggregated on seasonal basis. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) Analysis at p≤0.05. The analysis was showed the  correlation coefficient andlevel of the relationship among the variables. The results indicated a close relationship between a numbers  of rainstorm characteristics. In fact, the correlation coefficient produced between the rainstorm’scharacteristics, showed that a  close relationship exist between the duration and amount of rainfall, which were highly significant (.006 and .049). This is, however,  supported by the relatively higherconcentrations of sediment in tropical rivers during the early period of the rainy season. Great  careisthen needed to protect our soils from the vagaries of the rainfall.