Revised Rainfall Series for the West African Subtropics

This note presents normalized annual rainfall departure series from the beginning of the century to 1975 for three regions in the semi-arid add West African subtropics. Considered are three basically latitudinal zone, Sahelo-Saharan (∼18–20°N),Sahefian (∼12–18°N) and Soudanian (∼12–15°N). The series, based on a total of 1 18 stations, exhibit remarkably parallel fluctuations, including a period of well-above-average rainfall throughout the 1950's and a drier period which set in about 1960 and culminated in the 1968–73 Sahel drought.