Rare 8-hour rain unsettled Abuja, but it happened last 7 years ago

On Saturday, a heavy down pour that occurred in Abuja and environs and unsettled most Abuja residents as they hadn’t witnessed such long hours’ huge rain in May in recent years.

The rain which began around 9am lasted well over 3pm in most places in Abuja and throughout the duration, it was mostly intense.

A lot of Abuja residents observed that, for about a decade, Abuja hasn’t witnessed that long hours of rainfall in May.

Long hours’ rainfall in Abuja usually would happen around July and August and not at the beginning of rain onset.

NiMet said, “We have not had this for the last seven years.”

The 2018 seasonal rainfall prediction of the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NiMet) largely predicted “normal-to-earlier-than-normal onset” in north central states including Abuja, it didn’t indicate huge rainfall would happen early in the onset like it did.

It also said Abuja, Gombe, Yelwa, Bida and places along the Rivers Niger and Benue are expected to have annual rainfall amount in the range of 800 – 1600mm.

NiMet’s daily forecast for Saturday May 12, 2018 predicted localized thunderstorm in the central states including Abuja.

But the phenomena that happened in Abuja and some neighboring north central states may be attributed to the Inter Tropical Divide (ITD) which caused rain to fall in Abuja and environs around December 2017 and around January 2018 ahead of the rainy season.