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Botswana - Climate

'Pula', one of the most frequently heard words in Botswana, is not only the name of Botswana's currency, but also the Setswana word for rain. So much of what takes place in Botswana relies on this essential, frequently scarce commodity. Botswana's climate is semi-arid. Though it is hot and dry for much of the year, there is a rainy season, which runs through the summer months. Rainfall tends to be erratic, unpredictable and highly regional. Often a heavy downpour may occur in one area while 10 or 15 kilometers away there is no rain at all. Showers are often followed by strong sunshine so that a good deal of the rainfall does not penetrate the ground but is lost to evaporation and transpiration.

Botswana has numerous environmental problems that affect the quality of life. Periodic droughts are a fact of life due to the terrain and tmospheric conditions. August brings a seasonal wind that blows from the west, obscuring visibility. Overgrazing and cattle ranchers’ poor land management are causing the Kalahari Desert to expand, which decreases the availability of arable and livable land. Water resources are limited. Botswana’s increasing population puts it in conflict with both the environment and neighboring countries, whose own burgeoning populations draw heavily on the region’s scarce water resources.

Botswana is for the most part a high plateau, with an elevation of from 4000 to 5000 feet. In spite of its almost tropical situation the climate is only a little inferior to that of the Cape province and is very healthful for Europeans. The country is poorly watered, and there are several dry river beds, which fill up during the rainy season.

In the early 1960s there was a disastrous drought for five years, and then in 1966 the famine. For five years there were below average rainfalls, with a total failure of the rains in the early part of 1965. This brought on the worst crop failure and drought that the territory has ever experienced for 25 years. As a result, virtually all crops were lost and a large number of cattle died. The rains fell late in 1965, and again in January and February of 1966. They improved grazing and water supplies to some extent, but they came too late to make any material effect on the situation. The next crop ess due to be harvested in mid-1967 and the famine is expected to continue until then. It ess hoped then that the normal rains will provide grazing on a much larger area until next November. The number of destitute people being fed was about 115,000, out of a population of 570,000.

The summer season begins in November and ends in March. It usually brings very high temperatures. However, summer is also the rainy season, and cloud coverage and rain can cool things down considerably, although only usually for a short period of time. The winter season begins in May and ends in August. This is also the dry season when virtually no rainfall occurs. Winter days are invariably sunny and cool to warm; however, evening and night temperatures can drop below freezing point in some areas, especially in the southwest. The in-between periods - April/early May and September/October - still tend to be dry, but the days are cooler than in summer and the nights are warmer than in winter.

The rainy season is in the summer, with October and April being transitional months. January and February are generally regarded as the peak months. The mean annual rainfall varies from a maximum of over 650mm in the extreme northeast area of the Chobe District to a minimum of less than 250mm in the extreme southwest part of Kgalagadi District (see the map for districts). Almost all rainfall occurs during the summer months while the winter period accounts for less than 10 percent of the annual rainfall. Generally, rainfall decreases in amount and increases in variability the further west and south.

Summer days are hot, especially in the weeks that precede the coming of the cooling rains, and shade temperatures rise to the 38°C mark and higher, reaching a blistering 44°C on rare occasions. Winters are clear-skied and bone-dry, the air seductively warm during the daylight hours but, because there is no cloud cover, cold at night and in the early mornings. Sometimes bitterly so - frost is common and small quantities of water can freeze.

In summer during the morning period humidity ranges from 60 to 80% and drops to between 30 and 40% in the afternoon. In winter humidity is considerably less and can vary between 40 and 70% during the morning and fall to between 20 and 30% in the afternoon. For tourists, the best visiting months are from April through to October - in terms of both weather and game viewing. It is during this period that the wildlife of the great spaces gather around what water there is - the natural waterholes and the borehole-fed dams - and are at their most visible.

The Government of Botswana has initiated nation-wide consultations to build climate change into all of its development activities. Climate change is already being attributed to a number of changes in Botswana, including longer drought episodes, changes in rainfall patterns, outbreaks of crop diseases that affect the most important sector to rural households and subsistence agriculture. At a national level, Botswana is experiencing significant water shortages, resulting in dependence on its neighboring countries for inter-basin water transfers to augments its domestic supply.

As a result of climate change, Botswana is expected to experience a temperature rise of up to 2 degrees Celsius by 2015 and a decline in river flows of up to 13 percent. The focus of the national adaptation and mitigation plan would be the development and transfer of technology, finance and knowledge, and promote education and public awareness of climate issues.

Bringing together representatives from regional organizations, government, civil society and the private sector, the aim is to develop a national climate policy, strategy and action plan that will guide Botswana to respond to the current and future impacts of climate variability. The strategy will also inform the country’s low carbon development pathway and a national adaptation and mitigation plan. This would focus on the development and transfer of technology, finance and knowledge, and promote education and public awareness of climate issues.