For decades, we have seen and heard people from various parts of the world talk about the weather conditions in their countries. Sometimes these conditions are so harsh that they affect families, businesses, and the nation at large. Other times, they are warm and welcoming enough that citizens look forward to them.
For me, I grew up watching the local TV stations with my dad in Nigeria, and every day there was a presenter whose job was to give weather predictions and a report from the previous day. I really enjoyed it even though I could not fully understand the temperature readings she used to explain her points. But I did understand when she said things like, “There will be slight rainfall this evening in Calabar,” or “No sign of rainfall.”
What made it even more interesting was that her predictions were almost always correct. My curiosity later helped me understand that studying the weather in one's environment to predict its patterns is a real career path, and the people who do this are called meteorologists.
As I grew older, I eventually stopped watching those weather forecast shows, but I became familiar enough with my country to understand our weather without help. I could boldly tell anyone that we had two main seasons in Nigeria, the rainy season and the dry season. The rainy season usually runs from April to late October, with a short break in August, while the dry season occurs from mid-November to March. These seasons were consistent until a few years ago, when we began to notice some serious climate changes.
These days, our weather feels totally unpredictable. The seasons no longer follow the patterns I grew up with, which makes it difficult to tell which months would have rainfall or sunshine.
Image from unsplash
I recall when Harmattan(the dry, cold, and dusty period between early December and late January) was something we associated with Christmas and new year. But last year, there was more rainfall and no Harmattan at all, which is the most noticeable effect of climate change I have ever experienced in my lif. It rained almost every day in December, which is supposed to be a dry season, and this rainfall continued into the beginning of this year. It has only reduced in the past two weeks.
Each time I think about it, I cannot help but see how climate change is negatively affecting the weather patterns in my country. The urbanization of villages through deforestation, the burning of fossil fuels to generate energy, and the overconsumption of electricity in our homes and offices are all contributing factors. These human activities are slowly altering the natural course of our environment, and I hope we can curb them before they cause more damage.
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