SOMALILAND
CLIMATE.
Mean daily maximum temperatures throughout the country range from
30° C to 40° C, except at higher elevations and along the
Indian Ocean coast. Mean daily minimum temperatures vary from 20°
C to more than 30° C. Somaliland experiences the greatest temperature
extremes, with readings ranging from below freezing in the highlands
in December to more than 45° C in July in the coastal plain skirting
the Gulf of Aden. The north's relative humidity ranges from about
40 percent in midafternoon to 85 percent at night, varying somewhat
with the season. During the colder months, December to February, visibility
at higher elevations is often restricted by fog.
Somalilanders
recognize four seasons, two rainy (gu and day) and two dry (jiilaal
and hagaa). The gu rains begin in April and last until June, producing
a fresh supply of pasture and for a brief period turning the desert
into a flowering garden. Lush vegetation covers most of the land,
especially the central grazing plateau where grass grows tall. Milk
and meat abound, water is plentiful, and animals do not require
much care.
The clans, reprieved from four months' drought, assemble to engage
alternately in banter and poetic exchange or in a new cycle of hereditary
feuds. They also offer sacrifices to Allah , whose blessings they
seek. Numerous social functions occur: marriages are contracted,
outstanding disputes are settled or exacerbated, and a person's
age is calculated in terms of the number of gus he or she has lived.
The gu season is followed by the hagaa drought (July-September)
and the hagaa by the day rains (October-November). Next is jiilaal
(December-March), the harshest season for pastoralists and their
herds.
Most of the country receives less than 500 millimeters of rain annually,
and a large area encompassing the northeast and much of Somaliland
receives as little as 50 to 150 millimeters. Certain higher areas
in the
somaliland
, however, record more than 500 millimeters a year, as do some coastal
sites. Generally, rainfall takes the form of showers or localized
torrential rains and is extremely variable.
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