Comparative Study of Climate Variability over Two Climatic Zones of Nigeria

Abstract

Temperature and rainfall data covering a climatic period of thirty years for Jos and Makurdi representing the tropical savannah and Ogoja representing the tropical rain forest climatic zones in Nigeria have been used to study climate variability. Statistical analyses were employed in this study. The results show that the trends of variability in both temperature and rainfall are increasing at the three stations. The rate of temperature increase is highest in Jos with 0 .023 ⁰C/year. The extent of variability in maximum temperature at Jos is 1.4, Makurdi 1.0 and Ogoja 1.5.  Ogoja exhibits the greatest variability both in temperature (1.63) and rainfall (94.88).