Severe Weather in Tanzania

Tornadoes:

Tornadoes are formed by a rotating body of air from the ground, which is caused by vertical wind sheer. Then a horizontal rotating air is lifted by the thunderstorm's updraft. When the horizontal air mass is lifted almost vertically, it's a mesocyclone. In the U.S. the tornadoes usually travels from southwest to northeast direction. Tornadoes move in that direction because tornadoes move with the same direction as their thunderstorm. Thunderstorms usually move that way in the temperate parts of the northern hemisphere and because of the jet stream moving from west to east. Tornadoes don't usually occur in Tanzania while in 2011, the United States confirmed 1,625 with 93 tornadoes still pending for the month of November and December. Based on the graph below, it appears that tornadoes has increased in number over the past thirty years. This might not be true because it also depends on the technology. In the past 30 years they didn't have as much technology as we did or the data isn't as accurate as it is now.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-information/extreme-events/us-tornado-climatology

Hurricanes:

The three main parts to form a hurricane includes warm ocean temperature of over 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The second part is a deep warm ocean layer in depth because the ocean water will mix and if the bottom layer is cold, when it mixes to the top, the ocean won't be warm enough to create a hurricane. The last part is coriolis to initiate the spinning of the hurricane. My country doesn't meet the needs to create a hurricane because the country is located in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean where there is a strong wind shear present almost all the time. The main hurricane formation regions are

in the Atlantic and East Pacific called hurricanes, in the Indian Ocean by Australia called cyclones and by China and Indonesia called Typhoons. In the U.S. the general path hurricanes travel is like in a C shape along the east coast. This usually happens because the Hurricane forms over the warm Gulf stream and is steered by the west east flow of the westerlies and jet stream. The hurricane starts to die down when it reaches the cool north Atlantic Ocean. Hurricanes don't usually happen in my country because the location doesn't have a good enough wind shear. The average number of hurricanes that hit the US per year is six.

http://www.numberof.net/number-of-hurricanes-per-year/

Daily Weather in Tanzania

The city I used for my country's three-day forecast is Dodoma, the capital city of Tanzania. The following forecast will cover the days of April 4, April 5, and April 6. The forecasted high for the first day is 83 degrees Fahrenheit while the low is 66 degrees Fahrenheit. The Precipitation percent for that day is .74 inches. On the second day, the forecasted high is 81 degrees Fahrenheit and the low also being 66 degrees Fahrenheit. Precipitation for the second day is .5 inches. Lastly, the forecasted high on the third day is 84 degrees Fahrenheit with the low being 67 degrees and the precipitation percent of .14 inches. The average pressure over 4/4-4/6 are 69 inches with the pressure increasing and decreasing over time. The average wind speed over the five-day period is 9 mph with the wind speed decreasing over time. 

In this current satellite image of Tanzania, there are a lot of clouds being shown in this picture. Most of the clouds are low, warm clouds being shown as grey and white color s in this image. Also shown on the radar is precipitation in this region. A lot of the precipitation is shown on the top left of the image with heavy purple, pink, green, yellow, and blue colors with a few blue, yellow, green colors scattered across the country. A few vegetation and surface characteristics shown  are mountain range to the right of Dodoma, a lake called Salanga to the left of the capital city, and also Swaga Swaga Game reserve towards the top of the country.

In this zoomed in regional map of Eastern Africa, there are just a few things that I noticed on this map. In this map I see just two 1008 mb. Also shown are actually three 1012 mb. These could be part of isobars of the country with the 1008mb being part of the low pressures and the 1012 part of an isobar. My guess would be that the high pressure areas are at a different park of Africa since the low pressures seem to be shown on the eastern side.

This regional picture is a zoomed out picture of the continent of Africa. In this picture I not only see isobars and pressure points on Africa, but I also see where the isobars are on the ocean and where the possible low and high pressures are. There seems to be a lot of high and low pressure towards the bottom left of the picture. On this picture, it seems to just show 1012mb actually on the land of Africa.

Global and Local Winds in Tanzania

For my country Tanzania, the minimum and maximum latitude is -1.36 to 10.94 with a minimum and maximum longitude of 34 to -34.06. For the capital city, Dodoma's latitude is -6.20 with the longitude of 35.74. Tanzania is located in the Southern Hemisphere, just a little below the equator. The atmospheric cell my country resides in is the Hadley cell. The southern Hadley cell is where there are southeasterly trades with the wind directing towards the northwest. Tanzania is near the equatorial low which is one of the main pressure belts.  The equatorial low is where the warm rising air from the equator is associated with low pressure. It is also near the doldrums because the country is right below the equator where the North and South trade winds meet.

           

For my country Tanzania, it seems to be humid all year long and is mostly sunny with a few rains here and there. Because of it's location it usually doesn't snow except on top of Mt. Kilimanjaro when it can get to below 0 degrees. Since Tanzania is in the Hadley cell, air seems to be hot and evaporation increases which make the air to become humid and moist. Tanzania is close to the intertropical convergence zone where there's also a high precipitation band. During the hot seasons, the Southeasterly trade winds usually cease which causes no wind. Lastly, Tanzania is close to the doldrums where the North and South tradewinds meet, causing light winds and humid conditions.

In Tanzania, there are two mountains: Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru. Five breezes and winds that are associated with mountains include the mountain breeze, valley breeze, Chinook, Foehn, and the eddy. There are possible winds and breezes that could be experienced with the mountains in Tanzania like the mountain and valley breeze, and the eddy. Winds that wouldn't occur would be the Foehn and the Chinook because the Chinook deals with the Rocky Mountains as the Foehn winds deals with the Alps. Yes my country has a coastline. With a coastline, you also deal with a few winds and breezes including the land breeze and the sea breeze. Because my country is on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, there will definitely be land and sea breezes happening.

Typical Weather and Tourism in Tanzania

            Because Tanzania falls in the southern hemisphere, their winter solstice occurs on June 21 for this year, which falls on a Sunday. The average maximum temperature for this month is 29 degrees Celsius, which is equivalent to 84 degrees Fahrenheit. The minimum average temperature of this month is 20 degrees Celsius, which also equals to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Precipitation seems to be light in this month with an average of 6 days of rainfall within the month. It is said to be moderately humid still with the daylight length to be estimated to about 11 hours and 55 minutes.

            Summer solstice is also opposite from the Northern Hemisphere. Our summer solstice is during the month of June, while Tanzania's is on December 22. The average maximum temperature of this month is 32 degrees Celsius, which is the same as 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The average minimum temperature is 23 degrees Celsius, which equals to 73 degrees Fahrenheit. During this month, the length of day is longer by about two hours with the same hours of sunshine as the winter solstice. The humidity seems to be very high during this month. The difference between the two solstice days is that there seems to be more days of rainfall, with 12 days and about 4.5 inches of rain in the month of December.

            Ironically, to us, the spring equinox would be sometime in the month of March. However, in Tanzania, their spring equinox, or vernal equinox, lies on September 23. In the month of September, the average maximum temperature is 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) with the average minimum temperature 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit). For this particular day, length of daylight is estimated to be 12 hours and 6 minutes with about eight hours of sunshine. Precipitation is much lower compared to the summer solstice, but it also surprisingly lower than winter solstice too. In September, number of days with rainfall is about average five days with an average rainfall of one inch.

            If the spring equinox is in the month of September, then the Autumnal equinox in Tanzania is to fall on March 21. Length of daylight on this day is to be also 12 hours and six minutes with eight hours of sunshine. The average maximum temperature is high, being 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) with an average minimum temperature of 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit). Precipitation for this month isn't as light like the spring equinox. During the month of March, there are about 12 days on average of rainfall with about 4.7 inches of rain on total average.

            Want the best out of your trip to Tanzania? Based off of these information, it seems the best time to go visit Tanzania is during the winter solstice. There are many activities to choose from. The winter solstice falls in the month of June, where animal spotting is easiest. Another outdoor activity to take advantage is to climb and hike the Kilimanjaro Mountain while being on safari tours. There are not really any weather hazards. June is just a start where seasonal rainfall decreases; so there will much more days of sunshine and to be outdoors. What better way to learn and play with wild animals and get the real safari life than being in Tanzania!

https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrTceOc7_dUEPUADJInnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTB0ZWVkYm84BHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkA1lIUzAwMl8x?p=tanzania+tourist+attraction&back=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fyhs%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dtanzania%2Btourist%2Battraction%2Bpictures%26hsimp%3Dyhs-001%26hspart%3Dmozilla%26ei%3DUTF-8&w=1280&h=1024&imgurl=2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-uuhdgWXAA6c%2FUOoAuPsvk9I%2FAAAAAAAAW6Q%2FkuaWz-rULEs%2Fs1600%2FKilimanjaro-tanzania.jpg&size=223KB&name=Kilimanjaro-tanzania.jpg&rcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tourist-destinations.com%2F2013%2F01%2Ftanzania-tourist-attractions-and-travel.html&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tourist-destinations.com%2F2013%2F01%2Ftanzania-tourist-attractions-and-travel.html&type=&no=6&tt=118&oid=aae2613687a7f8f701e6f54211504c0f&tit=Tanzania+-+Tourist+Attractions+and+Travel+Guide&sigr=12o1u9nif&sigi=131v8arav&sign=10ostj353&sigt=1034t694l&sigb=13gsv9nrj&fr=yhs-mozilla-001&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

http://www.drikpanchang.com/seasons/season-autumnal-equinox-timings.html

http://www.weather2travel.com/september/tanzania/

Dodoma's Climate

            For this blog post, I've read and looked up many things specifically about Tanzania's capital city and how the weather and area affects the capitals annual average weather. Unlike my blog in the Climate page, I will be going a little more in depth about climate in this specific city and tie it in with topics we've learned and discussed in class like geographical position, differential heating between land and water, and how altitudes affects temperature.

            In my recent post, I've stated Dodona to be the capital of Tanzania. However, Dodoma has only officially been the capital city of Tanzania since 1996. This city is where the President's office and national Assembly is located. Before Dodoma, Dar es Salaam was the former capital city but is also the country's largest city. Here is where most of the governments offices are, principal port, and the leading commercial center.

            Unlike Hawaii's temperature, Dodoma's warmest month of the year is usually in October/November with an average temperature of 92-93 degrees Fahrenheit whereas the coldest months of the year is usually in June and July at 81-82 degrees Fahrenheit. In Hawaii, it is usually the opposite with the month of July to be the warm, summer month and November being the ending of Fall and/or beginning of Winter. The annual range of temperature in Dodoma during the day is 81.2 degrees to 93.1 degrees Faherenheit and 62.1 degrees to 72.2 degrees Fahrenheit during the night.

http://w-weather.com/Tanzania/Dodoma/monthly/

            Latitude plays a role on Tanzania and Dodoma's temperature. With the country's latitude and longitude reading of 6 00' South and 35 00' East, Tanzania happens to land in the equatorial temperature part of the world's heating. This part of the world shows hardly "highs" and "lows" temperatures and rarely fluctuates. In areas like this, there are no drastic changes with seasons and temperatures all year as it usually would with places with higher latitudes.

            Ocean currents don’t have an affect on Dodona's weather as much because there is no large body of water close to the capital city. The capital is located in the middle of the county and is next to a plateau and cropland. If Dodoma were close to a large lake or close to the ocean, the water would help cool the temperatures of the city throughout the year. Areas close to the ocean tend to have cooler days and warmer nights, which isn't true about Dodoma's temperature.

            With global warming being a big topic and issue, like any other city in the world, I definitely agree that the weather in Dodoma will increase greatly especially because of it's geographic position being in the hottest area of the world close to the equator. Another key factor is the important Lake Tanganyika. This lake is a good source for food and income to not only the people of Tanzania but the other three countries bordering it. This lake accounts for 25 to 40 percent of the animal protein supply for people living nearby. However, since 1993, the Lake's temperature has increased by 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit to 2.3 degrees. With this little increase in temperature, it has been seen that the biological activity in lake has declined therefor threatens the sustainability of the Lake's fishing industry.

http://www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-locations/lake-tanganyika-tanzania-africa.html

            Overall, there has been a lot more things I found out this time around than last blog. It also was fun intertwining the things we learned in lectures to real life situations and being able to understand how climates and temperatures ties in with ocean currents or weather and geography. It's cool to see how our weather in Hawaii can be similar yet all different to Tanzania's weather and climate because of different factors like how we're surrounded by only water which gives us a nice temperature all year.