This is the end of January. The ususal weather at this time of year is dry, no rain. Since late December the country has experienced heavy and frequent rains. This has not ever happened within the memory of most residents. There was an El Nino effect in 1997 which cause unusual rains, but the rains were not as heavy as these. There was flooding in some counties, in this Western location there were no floods but considerable erosion of hills and roads, even a landslide at Mount Elgon. Could we say it is Climate Change? There is no other explanation.
Last night it rained, heavily, lightning and thunder shattering the comforting croaking, and chirping of night creatures. I slept through with many crazy dreams about having a stone I wanted to place in the arrangement along the stairway of this porch somewhere in New Hampshire house with a deck. When it rains hard, the power goes out, and all our laptops and cell phones will be still dead in the morning.
Another night of heavy rain. Most farmers are now just preparing their fields for planting in the next few weeks. If this rain is followed by drought, or the March rains come late and less, there will be problems with the crops. It is true that right now the cows are happy. But if there is too much rain, the roads become mud, gardens turn into a swamp, and toilets back up into homes or the yard. The forecast is for this to be over by Friday. But people are still worried.
We have asked students and local people about the heavy rains. Most are concerned about their planting which happens in mid-March. If the fields are too wet they will not be able to plant. Some of the October plantings did not succeed because of the rains. This were beans, potatoes and sukuma wiki. So we are in the unknown as far as managing the impact of weather.
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