Paper Details

Climate change is impacting on all rainfall derived parameters. For this study on climate change, trends of wet spells and flooding implication in Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria; daily rainfall data for Lokoja, 1951-2020 were obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Abuja and analysed using R code, non-parametric test such as Mann-Kendall statistical test as well as Sen’s slope technique. Results showed general downward trends in mean wet spells with 2-day and total wet spells having-0.014285714 each, while 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14-day mean wet spells having normal condition. Different magnitudes of trends were detected with the magnitude of >0 recording 8 (highest), =0 was 0 (lowest) and <0 was 3. The overall gradient estimator showed positive from January-August with June having the highest value of 3.0857 and January, the lowest (0.0143). September-November had negative value with September having the highest negative value of-7.7429 and November having lowest of-0.0571. This study concluded that, climate change was real and had impacted on the mean wet spells negatively. The following suggestions were made: the general public should be adequately informed on the concept of climate change, both adaptation and mitigation measures should be adopted to combat the impact of climate change, drainages should be cleared regularly to avert urban flooding; and forecast of wet spells should be incorporated into the Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) and daily weather forecast by NiMet. Key words:Climate change, flooding, rainfall, trends, wet spells