Week Four: Climate and Weather

Mambo,

I hope everyone had a wikiendi nzuri (good weekend)!

Today I wanted to share with you a little bit about the weather and climate of Tanzania. Similar to the United States, Tanzania has changes in their weather patterns, seasons, climates and temperatures in different parts of the country.

However, Tanzania is located very close to the equator (1 degree - 12 degrees South of the Equator), which means that overall, the weather is quite warm most of the time. In fact, it never snows in Tanzania, other than on the highest slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro!

However, Tanzania does have four climatic zones:

1. The Coast - 

hot and humid

average temperature: 65-89 F

40-76 inches of annual rainfall

2. Central Plateau - 

hot and dry

average temperature: 61 - 74 F

20-30 inches of annual rainfall

3. Northern, Western and Central Highlands

cooler and dry

average temperature: 56 - 78 F

40 inches of annual rainfall

4. High, Moist Lake regions

cooler and wet/humid

average temperature: 65-77 F

80-90 inches of annual rainfall

In the middle part of the country, including the central plateau and the highlands, there is only one major rainy season: from November through March. During this time, Tanzanians who live here experience an entire years' worth of rainfall...turning barren dirt into blooming and thriving land, ready for cultivation. In these drier areas, families must be very careful to save food and pace their harvests to make sure they have food to eat year-round. 

However, along the coast and in the North where I lived, there are two rainy seasons. The first is in November and December, and then the rains return from March until early May. This also means that land is farmable throughout the year; people are able to plant multiple seasons of crops for growing. 

For example, many farmers around me grew bananas, cabbages, onions and tomatoes year round, but there was a mango season, a peanut season, a pineapple season (for the good ones at least!), and 'better' times to plant potatoes and sunflowers. 

Here are some pictures -- labeled with the climate and month -- from around Tanzania!

The Coast, during the dry season

A "dry" season near Muyenzi, where I lived. Taken in October. 

Near Muyenzi in November, the rains were just starting 

In early April, near Muyenzi. Now that the rains had come for awhile, the grasses were taller than me! (That's my roommate...she is 5'9" and the grasses were even taller than her!)

Posing with a couple of camels in December -- in the northern highlands (dry season)

Near Lake Victoria in January....it's a pineapple!

Near Lake Victoria in February

Where we lived, it was always the right weather to grow bananas! You can see the corn stalks are dying though. 

The central highlands, taken in March just as the rains started up (you can see it's not all completely green)

Taken near my house in Muyenzi (moist lake region). The first rainy season, November 

At our house, when it rained it poured...inside! Our doors didn't close all the way at the bottom ( where you can see the gap) so if the rain came up about a half inch or it the wind blew the water just right, in it came!

I wish I had some more pictures from other regions -- but I was too busy teaching to travel everywhere all of the time!

Next week, we're going to continue the "wet weather" theme....I'll be sharing with you all about water! What I'd like to do is get away from sharing a lot of facts, and instead tell you about my experience with water while I was living in Tanzania.

Don't forget, if you have any questions about anything, have your teacher post a comment below or send me an email! I've gotten some really great questions from you all so far :)

Karibu tena! (Come again!)

Marisa 

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Weekly Challenge:

1. Where I lived in the Northwestern part of Tanzania, the average rainfall is 80-90 inches of rain. How many feet of rain falls each year?

2. Do a little research and find out what the average temperatures in different parts of the United States are! Do we have similar climate zones to Tanzania? What state might be similar to the Coastal tropics of Tanzania? What about the central highlands, or the moist lake regions?

Sources: 

http://www.journeysbydesign.com/destinations/tanzania/when-to-go

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Tanzania-CLIMATE.html

http://www.tanzania.climatemps.com/

http://www.mydestination.com/tanzania/6168623/tanzania-weather-forecast