Lesotho: Subnational Rainfall Indicators and Forecasts by Dekad

Lesotho subnational rainfall indicators are provided here in 10-day (dekadal) increments, generated by the World Food Programme using CHIRPS v2 satellite data and GEFS forecasts. The data covers precipitation totals, long-term averages, and percentage anomalies aggregated by WFP administrative units.

Use Cases

• Monitoring agricultural drought by tracking the 3-month rainfall anomaly (r3q) across administrative units
• Assessing current season performance by comparing 10-day rainfall (rfh) against long-term averages (rfh_avg)
• Evaluating forecast accuracy by comparing values labeled as 'forecast' versus 'final' in the type column

Strengths

• Includes 9 distinct rainfall indicators including rolling aggregations and anomalies
• Standardized via WFP Pcode references for subnational administrative units
• Differentiates between forecast, preliminary, and final data types

Limitations

• Satellite-derived precipitation estimates may vary from local rain gauge measurements
• Temporal resolution is restricted to 10-day intervals (dekads) rather than daily observations

Provenance

Source

World Food Programme (WFP) via CHIRPS and CHIRPS-GEFS

Collection Method

Satellite imagery and in-situ station data aggregation

Freshness

Updated six times per month to transition from initial forecasts to final observations.

Geography

Lesotho