![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/f2733027-ed55-4bcc-8aa5-e990df4e3e6c.png\")
Communities were also urged to prepare for heat stress, water shortages and increased pressure on food supplies as the dry season continues.Some places will receive occasional rainfall this month, but
\nmost of the country will remain hot and dry, the weatherman has said.<\/p>\n
The Meteorological Office said the January-March period will
\nbe predominantly hot and dry.<\/p>\n
The forecast comes as farmers across the country assess the
\ncondition of crops planted during the October-December season, some of which
\nremain in the fields.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe outlook for January 2026 indicates that most parts of
\nthe country will experience predominantly dry weather conditions,\u201d Met deputy director Kennedy Thiong\u2019o said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“However, a
\nfew areas, including the highlands west of the Rift Valley, the Lake Victoria
\nBasin, the central and southern Rift Valley, the highlands east of the Rift
\nValley, including Nairobi county, the southeastern lowlands, and the coastal
\nstrip, are likely to receive occasional rainfall.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said temperatures will be high across the country, adding
\npressure on crops, livestock and water supplies. <\/p>\n
Thiong\u2019o warned that heat will be a defining feature of the
\nJanuary to March period.<\/p>\n
\u201cTemperatures are expected to be warmer than average over
\nthe whole country. Daytime (maximum) temperatures over the northeast and northwest
\nare expected to be high and may occasionally rise beyond 37\u00b0C,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The forecast says the weather outlook for the next three
\nmonths points to continued dryness across much of Kenya, with only scattered
\nrainy days in selected areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe outlook for the next three months indicates that most
\nparts of the country are likely to experience sunny and dry weather conditions
\nthroughout the forecast period,” the statement said.<\/p>\n
“However, a few areas over the western sector
\nand especially those around the Lake Victoria region and the Southern Rift Valley
\nmay experience occasional rainfall in January and February. In March, the
\nrainfall is expected to spread to several places.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The department links the dry conditions to global climate
\ndrivers, particularly the ongoing La Ni\u00f1a phenomenon.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, the combination of persistent La Ni\u00f1a conditions
\nin the Pacific and a neutral Indian Ocean Dipole suggests a tendency towards
\nsuppressed rainfall over parts of East Africa, including Kenya, during January
\n2026, although localised rainfall may still occur due to transient weather
\nsystems,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
These global conditions mean that even where rain falls,
\nthey are likely to be short-lived and unevenly distributed.<\/p>\n
For western Kenya, the Lake Victoria Basin and parts of the
\nRift Valley, the department says dry weather will prevail for most of the
\nmonth, punctuated by brief rainfall episodes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAreas are likely to experience generally dry conditions for
\nmost of the month. However, occasional light to moderate rainfall is expected
\nduring the month,\u201d the outlook says for counties including Kisumu, Kakamega,
\nNakuru, Kericho and Narok.<\/p>\n
In northern and northeastern Kenya, the forecast is less
\nencouraging.<\/p>\n
The department says Turkana, Samburu, Mandera, Wajir and Garissa
\nwill remain hot and dry, with very high daytime temperatures.<\/p>\n
\u201cSunny and dry conditions are expected in the month of
\nJanuary. High daytime (maximum) temperatures (30\u00b0C\u201340\u00b0C) are expected to
\nprevail in most places during the month,\u201d the statement says.<\/p>\n
Highlands east of the Rift Valley and central Kenya
\n(Nairobi, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Kiambu, Meru, Embu,
\nTharaka Nithi and the eastern parts of Laikipia) are likely to experience mainly
\nsunny and dry conditions for most of the month. However, occasional light to
\nmoderate rainfall is expected during the month.<\/p>\n
The dry conditions are expected to have direct consequences
\nfor food security, especially in arid and semi-arid areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dry weather conditions expected during the month are
\nlikely to worsen the food security over the northern and parts of the eastern
\nsectors of the country as availability of food, water and pasture for human as
\nwell as livestock use is expected to decline further,\u201d the department warned.<\/p>\n
It added that national and county governments, together with
\nhumanitarian agencies, should act early to reduce the risk of hunger and
\nlivestock losses.<\/p>\n
The department advised farmers to monitor weather updates
\nclosely, use available water carefully, and take advantage of any rainfall
\nthat occurs in January to support crops still in the fields.<\/p>\n
Communities were also urged to prepare for heat stress,
\nwater shortages and increased pressure on food supplies as the dry season
\ncontinues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Communities were also urged to prepare for heat stress, water shortages and increased pressure on food supplies as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[80,351,352,98,100,353,101,350,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-6325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-kenya","9":"tag-kenya-news","10":"tag-star","11":"tag-star-news","12":"tag-star-news-kenya","13":"tag-star-newspaper-kenya","14":"tag-the-star","15":"tag-the-star-kenya","16":"tag-the-star-newspaper"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}