Afghanistan Subnational Rainfall Indicators and Anomalies by Dekad

Dekadal rainfall indicators for Afghanistan's subnational administrative units, produced by the World Food Programme (WFP) using CHIRPS satellite imagery and CHIRPS-GEFS forecasts. It tracks 10-day, 1-month, and 3-month rainfall totals, averages, and anomalies to monitor climate conditions across the country. The data is updated six times per month to transition from short-term forecasts to final observations.

Use Cases

• Monitoring drought conditions using the 3-month rainfall anomaly (r3q) column
• Predicting agricultural yields based on 10-day rainfall (rfh) and long-term averages (rfh_avg)
• Validating climate models by comparing forecast and final values in the type column

Strengths

• Includes 9 distinct rainfall and anomaly indicators for multi-scale analysis
• Provides pixel counts (n_pixels) to indicate the spatial reliability of each aggregate
• Maintains a high update frequency with a structured transition from forecast to final data

Limitations

• Relies on satellite-derived estimates which may deviate from ground-truth station data
• Geographic scope is restricted to Afghanistan subnational units
• Data status (forecast vs. final) changes frequently, requiring users to manage versioning

Provenance

Source

World Food Programme (WFP)

Collection Method

Aggregation of CHIRPS v2 satellite imagery and CHIRPS-GEFS forecasts

Freshness

Updated six times per month on the 1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, and 26th.

Geography

Afghanistan (subnational level)