COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF RAINSTORMS OVER IBADAN, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study analysed the spatio-temporal variations of areal coverage (AC) of rainstorms over Ibadan with respect to
variations in the AC of rainstorms during early and late rainy seasons in 2013 and 2014 rainstorm events. AC of rainstorms
equals to the area covered by the rainstorms as observed by the 50 recording raingauges using square method. Student's t-test was used to test if there is significant difference in the AC of rainstorms during early and late rainy seasons, at p≤0.05. Of the 154 AC of rainstorm events studied, 21% and 32% occurred during early and late rainy seasons, respectively. The highest AC of rainstorms was recorded in April, as 426.4 km (about 82.7% of the total area) followed by 389.6 km (75.6%) in October. The study also revealed that the AC of rainstorms varied over the city of Ibadan during early and late rainy seasons. There was no significant difference in the mean AC of rainstorms during early and late rainy seasons (t=2.75). This study has provided a basic climatological investigation of Ibadan early and late rainy seasons AC of rainstorms conditions. The result could potentially be used in establishing guidelines for the use of rainwater in agriculture.