Variability Of Rainfall And Temperature Distributions In Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

The knowledge of variability in climatic attributes is necessary for the evaluation of their distributions within regions. This research investigated the distributions and how rainfall and temperature (R&T) varied across the Delta State region of Nigeria. The research design employed is the ex post facto. The study employed yearly and monthly (R&T) data gotten from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) through Google earth, and Time-Series (TS) monthly climate variation data from January, 1901 to December, 2019. Statistical analysis involved the mean, climographs, Analysis of variance (ANOVA), Fisher Test, Post Hoc test, and Minitab 18 macro tool. The study observed increase of 0.4^oC in temperature and 320.3mm in rainfall. Significant variations in both monthly and annual (R&T) were observed. On the trends results, increasing trend in temperature within the 8 stations were observed, while no increasing trend in rainfall within the 8 stations were observed. Decreasing trend in seasonal temperature from January to June, and August to December was observed. Furthermore, decreasing rainfall trend was observed in February, May, June, July and November, with August and September having increasing trends while the January, March, April and December having no trends.