In Africa the Intergovernmental Panel on C l i m a t e Change(IPCC) recorded a warming of about 0.7oC over most of Africa during the 20th century based on the historical records. The exact nature of the change in tempurature or precipitation, and extreme events are not known. There is a general belief that these events will get worse. These weather changes will come most likely because of the global warming we have been experiencing.
The central part of Africa and the eastern coast of Madagascar have a climate comparable to a tropical rainforest. The average tempurature is about 26.7o C and the average rain fall is about 1780 mm annually. The climate of the Guinea coast has a equatorial climate, except for the fact that the rainfall is concentrated in one season. No months are rainless in Guinea.
North and South of the rainforest climate is a tropical savanna climate zone that takes about 1/5 of all of Africa. The climate consists of a wet season during the summer months and a dry season during the winter months. The total yearly rainfall ranges from 550 mm to more than 1550 mm. The savanna climate zone is one of the more dry climate zones in africa away from the equator.
In africa as a whole the average rainfall goes from 250 mm to 500 mm. Africa has a larger area of arid, or desert, climate zones then anywhere in the world except for Australia. Each of these areas has less than 250 mm of rainfall each year. In the Sahara the daily seasonal extreme temperatures are very high. The average July tempurature is more than 32.2o C, and during the cold season the at night the tempurature can drop below 0o C. The mediterranean climate zones are found in northwest Africa and in the extreme southwest. Those regions have mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers.
Kenya and ganda are highlands of eastern Africa. The rainfall comes pretty evenly through out the year and tempuratures stay about the same. There is a tempurate climate on the high plateau of southern Africa.
Observational records show that the continent of Africa has been warming through the 20th century at the rate of about 0.05 degrees C per decade with slightly larger warming in the June-November seasons than in December-May. By the year 2000, the warmest years in Africa had all occurred since 1988, with 1988 and 1995 being the two warmest years. This rate of warming is not dissimilar to that experienced globally, and the periods of most rapid warming-the 1910s to 1930s and the post-1970s occur simultaneously in Africa and the world.
The diurnal temperature gap is closing: there are more hot days and fewer cold days over time. The diurnal temperature range decreased over the years 1950-2000 over land. Nighttime minimum temperatures increased at twice the rate of daytime maximum temperatures. Precipitation deviations from a long-term mean are increasing during the last century.