Climate Change Chart of Lagos, Nigeria

Overview of climate changes

Changes in rainfall

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily rainfall had a difference of -1.19 mm/day compared with the earlier reference period. This summarizes the unweighted monthly means; it is not a day-weighted annual average or a monthly rainfall total. The largest monthly decrease occurred in April, with a difference of -3.63 mm/day. By contrast, September had the largest monthly increase, at +1.76 mm/day; these are month-specific differences in mean daily rainfall, not totals for either month.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration, averaged across calendar months, showed a difference of -0.39 hours/day compared with the earlier reference period. This unweighted mean summarizes the monthly averages and does not describe the difference in every individual month. The largest monthly decrease was in September, with a difference of -1.21 hours/day, while August recorded the largest monthly increase, at +0.28 hours/day. These opposing month-specific differences help show why the overall mean should not be read as a uniform change through the calendar.

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature showed a difference of +0.98 °C compared with the earlier reference period; this is an unweighted mean of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average or a measure of daytime maximum temperatures. The largest monthly increase was in May, with a difference of +1.20 °C. This identifies the strongest increase among the reported monthly means, rather than a change shared by every month.