Variability of rainy season onsets over East Africa

Over the East Africa region forecasts of the onset of the rainy seasons have the potential to support decision-making, especially in the largely rain-fed agricultural sector. However, the understanding of key features of onset remains limited. Here, we analyse the variability of onset and associated drivers at interannual and subseasonal timescales, using several onset definitions. Results show that the onset date is especially variable from year to year in some of the high-potential agricultural areas (standard deviation >20 days), which has implications for agricultural risk management. The choice of onset definition metric matters; agronomic definitions have limited applicability at the regional scale and are also highly sensitive to the spatial scale of analysis and to the choice of rainfall data. Onset information provided at coarse scales should be used with caution for decision-making at the local scale; the “hit rate” of coarse-scale tercile onset information at the local scale is less than 40% on average. To varying degrees, onset is related to total seasonal rainfall and thus to dominant interannual drivers of rainfall, including the Indian Ocean Dipole and ENSO modes in October–December and the western Pacific “V-gradient” pattern in March–May. However, by analysing the dominant proportion of onset variance unrelated to total rainfall during the climatological season we show a substantial influence of subseasonal drivers, notably the Madden–Julian Oscillation. As such, there is an opportunity for rainfall onset information to be provided across seasonal and subseasonal timescales. Our work reinforces the need for enhanced co-production of such onset information with stakeholders, especially regarding the choice of metric, alignment of forecasts with livelihood calendars, interpretation of the credibility of information content for local-level decision-making, as well as appropriate strategies for staggered risk management interventions informed by forecasts over “seamless” lead times.