Climate

Kenya's short rains: what the Indian Ocean Dipole is and how it moves the rain

The Indian Ocean Dipole, a sea-temperature gap across the Indian Ocean, tends to bring heavier October–December rain to Kenya when its western side is warmer, the Kenya Meteorological Department says. A Kenya Meteorological Department official was quoted by the farming news site FarmBizAfrica on 18 September as saying the dipole was still neutral, and the World Meteorological Organization predicted on 8 October that it would peak in October.