TOPOGRAPHIC EFFECT ON THE OCCURRENCE AND INTENSITY OF THUNDERSTORM IN PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

Abstract

Abstract Topography as one of the major factors or lifting mechanism for thunderstorm development which is prominently identified in this study area and this research work is intended to establish the relationship existing between topography and thunderstorm development and occurrence over the region under study. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of topography on the occurrence and intensity of thunderstorm in parts of Guinea Savanna part of Nigeria. The data used for this paper-were secondary data. These basically include number of monthly thunderstorms occurrence, wind gustiness associated with the thunderstorms and total monthly rainfall. To achieve the stated aim, descriptive and it statistical analysis was use to analyze and compare the data collected. These include line graph and trend analysis. The results revealed that places with low topography has the tendency of low thunderstorm while places with high topography has the tendency of higher number of thunderstorm occurrences as well as high intensity. Another significant finding is that gusty winds of 100km/h and rainfalls of between 30 to 90mm are recorded in few hours of between 3 to 6 hours which are capable of destructions of buildings/structures as well inducing flash flood disasters as seen from the analyzed data. It's therejOre recommended that, there should be a proper way of classifying/categorizing data relating to thunderstorm intensity, rainfall amount and frequency of lightening data for easy access on request.