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HOME > FEWS-NET > Africa > Africa ITCZ Monitoring

Africa Intertropical Front

For historical ITF dekadal data and analyses, or for any issues with this product
Please contact: nicholas.novella@noaa.gov or wassila.thiaw@noaa.gov


For the latest ITCZ .pdf file, --> Click Here

Mean vs Current Mean ITCZ


West Region East Region
West
ITCZ East
ITCZ

Latest Text Summary



From October 21-31, 2011, the ITF progressed south over eastern and western Africa resulting in an anomalous southerly position over Africa. The mean western portion of the ITF was located approximately at 11.6 degrees North, which was 1.3 degrees south of the climatology mean and 1.7 degrees south of the previous dekad's position. For a third consecutive dekad, strong northerly winds caused the ITF to propagate further south than normal over West Africa. This led to an early end to seasonal rains across the Sahel and heavy, above-average rains along the Gulf of Guinea. The eastern portion of the ITF was approximated at 10.2 degrees North, which was south of the climatology mean position by 1.3 degrees and south of the previous dekad's position by 2.5 degrees. After a one dekad return towards the climatology mean, the ITF during the past dekad once again was pushed well south of climatology due to strong northerly winds and reduced moisture over eastern Africa. Below-average rainfall was observed across central and western Sudan. Figure 1 shows the current ITF position relative to the climatology position for the third dekad of October and its previous position during the second dekad of October. Figures 2 and 3 are time series, illustrating the latitudinal means of the western and eastern portions of the ITF, respectively, and their evolutions since the start of April.

Dekad 15W 10W 5W 0 5E 10E 15E 20E 25E 30E 35E
April 1 11.7 10.1 10.5 11.4 9.7 8.3 7.1 9.5 8.4 7.8 7.4
April 2 10.8 10.9 12.5 12 11.7 9.2 8.6 9.5 8.4 8.8 7.7
April 3 11.2 11.3 12.7 13.5 14 12.1 11.5 11 9 9.2 9.3
May 1 12.2 12.7 13.7 14 14.2 12.1 12.1 11.4 9.2 10.4 10.4
May 2 13.8 14.2 14.8 15.1 14.1 11.7 11.8 11.5 9.9 10.4 11.8
May 3 14.6 14.7 14.9 16.1 16.4 15.1 15 15 14.3 14.6 15.5
June 1 14.8 14.5 15.3 16.7 16.2 14.8 14.2 13.1 11.5 12.4 14.3
June 2 15.6 15.8 16.2 17.7 17.6 16.3 15.5 15.3 12.8 13.3 15.3
June 3 16.7 16.2 17.2 18.8 18.1 16 16.5 15.7 13.9 13.6 14.8
July 1 15.9 16.2 16.7 17.6 17 16.1 16.5 14.9 14.5 14.2 15.2
July 2 17.2 17.5 18 18.6 18.3 17.4 17.6 17.6 14.4 14.9 16.6
July 3 17.9 17.7 18.4 19.5 18.9 17.8 17.5 16.4 15.2 15.9 19.2
August 1 18.4 18.9 19.1 19.4 18.4 17.8 17.9 17.1 16.2 16.8 18.6
August 2 19.7 20.3 20.9 21.2 19.8 19.1 19.3 18.2 17.3 17.3 17.4
August 3 20 19.9 20.7 21.2 19.4 18.8 17.5 16.1 15.3 15.8 17.5
September 1 18 18.6 19 18.6 17.8 16.9 16.4 15.8 15.1 15.5 16.9
September 2 18.3 19 19.3 18.2 17.5 16.3 16.3 16.3 15.4 14.8 16
September 3 17.1 17 17 16.8 15.5 14.1 13.7 13.3 12.2 13.1 15.9
October 1 16.1 14.2 14.2 14.5 14.9 13.6 13.5 13 12.9 13.3 14.5
October 2 14.5 13.9 14 13.9 12.8 12 12 12.1 12.1 12.6 13.9
October 3 13.7 13 12.2 11.8 11.1 10 10.1 10.4 8.9 10.1 11.5


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Page last modified: February 22, 2006
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