Detection of precipitation and temperature trend patterns for Mulanje district, southern part of Malawi

Abstract

This paper reports on the recent trend of climate changes taking place in Mulanje, one of the major tea producing districts in Malawi, with a focus on precipitation and temperature. The study analyzed trends in weather time series (air temperature and rainfall) data from 1980 to 2011 using non-parametric Mann-Kendall test. The MK test gave a mix of positive and negative trends for the monthly and seasonal precipitation. Only the month of December showed a positive significant trend while February, April, May, June September, October and November had a significant negative trend. Cool and wet as well as hot and dry season showed a significant decreasing trend in precipitation. The data also indicated that annual rainfall variation is decreasing with time at the rate of about 4.29 mm per year while temperature is increasing by about 0.04°C every year. The MK test for temperature results showed a significant increasing trend for both mean annual minimum and maximum temperature. The results of the study do not deny climate change is happening, therefore, proper adaptation measures should be employed to reduce the vulnerability to climate change in the area because of its economic significance in tea production.