Short Rains

End of October and November was the "short rains" seasons, where it rained quite frequently, but on and off, usually for just an hour or two--and mostly overnight. The rains were often very heavy though. Over the six weeks or so it only affected my walk to work a few times.

There was a lot of rain though and hopefully that helped overcome the water shortage in the country. Unfortunately, as frequently happens, the rains caused chaos in rural areas with floods washing away bridges.

The rains did cool the temperature down somewhat but now that the rains have passed it has warmed up again. It is still cool from around 5pm (it gets dark around 6.30pm) until 10am or so in the morning, but between 10-5 it can be above 20 degrees, and in the sunshine around 30 degrees. I can safely say from experience that it is not a good idea to sit on the balcony in the sun during that time, or go running at that time!

Still, with the altitude it is not humid at all and not too hot, compared to the coast where it is both very humid and about 5-8 degrees hotter. It is very pleasant. At Christmas many people head to the beaches, but there's also plenty of people who come from Europe to see friends or family in Nairobi and just stay in Nairobi for a wonderful warm winter break!

It will be fairly dry now until April time when the long rains will come for a couple of months. It will also be the hottest time of the year; one could almost call it Summer, since the other dry period around July-August is significantly cooler.