Heaviest rain in decades in Zimbabwe

Amid months of persistent heavy rains, Zimbabwe’s Meteorological Department reported that some areas of the country received their heaviest rainfall in 30 years during January.

The image above shows the difference from average precipitation across the southern portion of Africa for January 2011. Shades of brown indicate areas that received up to six inches less than average precipitation for the month while green indicates up to six inches more than average. Light colors show where precipitation totals were near the long-term average.

According to the Voice of America, flooding in the region raised authorities’ concerns about the potential for the Zambezi River to overflow a dam, but the majority of the damage sustained in Zimbabwe was to crops.

Map based on daily composites of precipitation data from the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis project, provided by NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory.