Climate Change Chart of Maseru, Lesotho

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature shows a difference of +1.46 °C compared with the earlier reference period; this is an unweighted average of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average or a measure of daytime maximum temperatures. The largest monthly increase was in January, with a difference of +2.35 °C. This identifies the strongest increase among the supplied monthly comparisons, rather than describing every month's change.

Changes in rainfall

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily rainfall had a difference of -0.72 mm/day in the more recent period. This is an unweighted average of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average, and the measure is daily rainfall rather than a monthly total. The largest monthly decrease was in November, with a difference of -1.71 mm/day; by contrast, July recorded the largest monthly increase, a difference of +0.17 mm/day. These month-specific differences show why the overall mean does not describe every month's rainfall change.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration averaged across calendar months had a difference of +0.04 hours/day compared with the earlier reference period. This unweighted average of monthly means is not a day-weighted annual figure. The largest monthly increase occurred in January, with a difference of +0.26 hours/day, while the largest monthly decrease was in April, with a difference of -0.26 hours/day. These are daily-hours differences for the respective months, not a uniform change throughout the year.

Changes in snowfall

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily snowfall had a difference of +0.03 mm/day. This is an unweighted average of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average or a monthly snowfall total. The largest monthly increase was in July, with a difference of +0.22 mm/day; the largest monthly decrease was in September, with a difference of -0.01 mm/day. These figures describe differences in mean daily snowfall for those months and should not be read as changes that apply equally across all months.