Climate of Africa
African deserts are the sunniest and the driest parts of the continent, owing to the prevailing presence of the subtropical ridge with subsiding, hot, dry air masses.
Owing to Africa's position across equatorial and subtropical latitudes in both the northern and southern hemisphere, several different climate types can be found within it.
Warm and hot climates prevail all over Africa, but mostly the northern part is marked by aridity and high temperatures.
Globally, heating of the earth near the equator leads to large amounts of upward motion and convection along the monsoon trough or Intertropical Convergence Zone.
Temperatures are hottest within the Sahara regions of Algeria and Mali,[4] and coolest across the south and at elevation within the topography across the eastern and northwest sections of the continent.
[9] Nevertheless, the major part of Africa experiences extreme heat during much of the year, especially the deserts, semi-deserts, steppes and savannas.
The mid-level African easterly jet stream north of the equator is considered to play a crucial role in the West African monsoon,[10] and helps form the tropical waves which march across the tropical Atlantic and the eastern part of the Pacific during the warm season.
When the jet lies south of normal during the peak months of the Atlantic hurricane season, tropical cyclone formation is suppressed.
[19] Low-level southwesterlies emanating from the Gulf of Guinea are the key moisture source for the West African monsoon in northern hemisphere summer.
[22] Areas with a savannah climate in Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Ghana, Burkina Faso,[23][24] Darfur,[25] Eritrea,[26] Ethiopia,[27] and Botswana have a distinct rainy season.
[31] Snow is an almost annual occurrence on some of the mountains of South Africa, including those of the Cedarberg and around Ceres in the South-Western Cape, and on the Drakensberg in Natal and Lesotho.
Skiing including snowboarding in the Cape is a hit-and-miss affair, both in terms of timing of snowfalls, and whether there is sufficient snow to cover the rocks.
Additionally, snow regularly falls in the Atlas Mountains in the Maghreb, as well as the Mediterranean regions and Sinai peninsula of Egypt.
[41] Over the coming decades, warming from climate change is expected across almost all the Earth's surface, and global mean rainfall will increase.
This is due to home construction materials, lack of ventilation, sparse green space, and poor access to electrical power and other services.
People experience extreme food insecurity, high mortality rates, major biodiversity loss, and more as a result of global warming.
[67] In 2020, Cyclone Freddy struck Mozambique in two different locations, producing widespread rainfall that killed 1,434 people along its path, mostly in Malawi.
In November 2013, a deep depression struck Somalia and killed 162 people while also causing extensive livestock damage.
[73][74][75] The temperature contrast between the hot Sahara Desert in northern Africa and the cooler Gulf of Guinea to the south produces the African easterly jet, which generates tropical waves, or an elongated area of low pressure.
These incidents underscore the urgency of investing in early warning systems, which can significantly reduce damage and save lives.
The World Meteorological Organization suggests that an $800 million investment in developing countries could prevent annual losses of $3 to $16 billion.
