Rainfall distribution on the slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro

Observations from new precipitation gauges on the southern slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro are used together with observations from the regular network to establish an elevation function for the precipitation on the southern hillside of Mt Kilimanjaro. A third-order polynomial function is found to best describe the distribution of precipitation with elevation for the lower half of the hillside. On the upper half of the hillside, an exponential function is found to best describe the precipitation distribution with elevation. The availability and quality of the precipitation records is often a limiting factor for analyses and may influence the results. A reference precipitation series for the area is established through thorough screening and quality checks of the available data. The elevation function is compared with an isohyetal map for the area. The findings indicate that the maximum precipitation on the southern hillside of Mt Kilimanjaro takes place at about 2200 m a.s.l. which is 400-500 m higher than assumed previously.