Nepal Subnational Dekadal Rainfall Indicators and Forecasts

The World Food Programme produces dekadal rainfall indicators for Nepal's subnational administrative units using CHIRPS satellite imagery and CHIRPS-GEFS forecasts. Records include 10-day, 1-month, and 3-month rainfall totals alongside long-term averages and percentage anomalies updated up to six times per month.

Use Cases

• Monitoring drought conditions using the 3-month rainfall anomaly percentage (r3q)
• Predicting agricultural water availability based on 10-day rainfall forecasts (rfh)
• Analyzing historical climate trends by comparing current rainfall (rfh) against long-term averages (rfh_avg)

Strengths

• Includes both historical observations and short-term CHIRPS-GEFS forecasts
• Provides long-term averages for standardized anomaly calculation
• Uses standardized WFP Pcodes for administrative unit joins

Limitations

• Relies on satellite-derived estimates which may differ from ground-based rain gauges
• Data status (forecast vs. final) changes throughout the month, requiring users to filter by the type column

Provenance

Source

World Food Programme (WFP) via Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS)

Collection Method

Aggregation of satellite imagery (CHIRPS v2) and CHIRPS-GEFS short-term rainfall forecasts

Freshness

Updated frequently with forecasts and observations issued on a recurring cycle (1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, and 26th of each month).

Geography

Nepal