Rwanda-Weather: 2024, the hottest year…
Rwanda has recorded 2024 as the hottest year on record, with temperatures 1.1 degrees Celsius higher than those before the Industrial Revolution (based on the 1850-1900 average), the Rwanda Meteorological Agency announced on January 22.
According to the agency, this is an increase of 0.3 degrees from 2021, the second warmest year on record since the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s.
Rwanda Meteo Director General Aimable Gahigi said that due to rising temperatures, rainy seasons are becoming shorter and more intense.
“The number of rainy days in Rwanda has decreased by 35 to 45 days per year due to climate change,” he noted.
Aimable Gahigi noted that the last rainy season (September to December) saw less rainfall than the same season in 2023.
“The amount of rainfall in the last four months of 2024 was lower than expected levels. Rainfall was delayed, which affected farmers,” he said. He added that this was due to rising temperatures globally and in Rwanda in particular.
Rwanda has experienced a temperature increase of 1.4 degrees Celsius since 1970, higher than the global average, and is projected to experience a temperature increase of up to 2.0 degrees by the 2030s compared to 1970 levels.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, has confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record, with 1.55 degrees Celsius, higher than global temperature levels that existed before the Industrial Revolution. The organization specifies that this ongoing climate change is caused by human activities.
According to the WMO, the last decade, from 2015 to 2024, includes the ten warmest years on record.
Below average rainfall is expected across much of Rwanda, Somalia, eastern and northern Kenya, southern and northeastern Ethiopia, Djibouti, coastal Eritrea, western South Sudan, southern and western Uganda, Burundi and northwestern Tanzania.
