Chad Subnational Rainfall Indicators: Dekadal CHIRPS and Forecast Data

Offering dekadal rainfall indicators for Chad aggregated by subnational administrative units, produced by the World Food Programme. It integrates CHIRPS version 2 satellite imagery with CHIRPS-GEFS short-term forecasts to provide 10-day, 1-month, and 3-month rainfall totals and anomalies. The data is updated up to six times per month to transition from initial forecasts to final observations.

Use Cases

• Monitoring drought conditions by analyzing the rainfall anomaly percentage (rfq) across different administrative units
• Assessing agricultural risk by comparing current 3-month rolling rainfall (r3h) against the long-term average (r3h_avg)
• Early warning systems using the 'type' column to identify upcoming rainfall deficits based on CHIRPS-GEFS forecasts

Strengths

• Includes both historical long-term averages (rfh_avg) and real-time forecasts (CHIRPS-GEFS)
• Uses standardized WFP Pcode references for easy joining with other humanitarian datasets
• Provides pixel counts (n_pixels) to indicate the spatial data density for each aggregate

Limitations

• Relies on satellite-derived estimates (CHIRPS) which may differ from local rain gauge measurements
• Data status changes throughout the month, requiring users to filter by the 'type' column to avoid mixing forecasts with final observations

Provenance

Source

World Food Programme (WFP) using CHIRPS v2 and CHIRPS-GEFS data

Collection Method

Aggregated from Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation satellite imagery and in-situ station data

Freshness

Updated frequently with forecasts issued on the 6th, 16th, and 26th and updates on the 1st, 11th, and 21st.

Geography

Chad (subnational level)