Snow in Rift Valley... is it another Wonder in Kenya?

The Tuesday evening of 2^nd September 2008 will be carried down in the history of Kenya meteorology. The Great Rift Valley formed the jumbo theatre of what residents of Gakingi village will keep to remember for decades. What started as a usual evening downpour, suddenly turned out to be a real climatic reversal……

Hailstones, snowballs, ice crystals, snow, sleet, solid rain…… name them, were the terms used to describe this dramatic event which brought almost all Kenya into a situate tranquil. And, on Wed 3^rd all was in the headlines ‘snow in Nyahururu!’ the region has now become a unique attraction for short-timed kenya safari for the residents.

Kenya has for long time been habituated to a tropical weather conditions therefore, the Nyahururu ‘snow fall’ on Tuesday evening would easily be mistaken to a start of ‘Kenya Alps’. The snow covered an area of almost 200 hectares with a depth of 10 inches.

Excited residents of Gakingi had their pleasurable affair as they played with the snow that struck their village after an evening downpour. Whatever title used to refer to this event was of miniature significance to them - all what they know is that it was ‘Mbarafu’ (snow) and Kenya sasa ni kama ulaya (Kenya is like abroad) like to say "Kenya has not been locked out by mother nature"

Nyahururu is located in the eastern warp of the Great Rift Valley. It is in Nyahururu where the great ancient British explorer Sir. Thomson with his German counterpart Sir. Fischer’s discovered the Nyahururu water fall in early 90s. The water fall was later named after Thomson 'Thomson's fall' and it forms a pleasant stop over for many safaris in Kenya. Fischer’s on the other hand was rewarded in Naivasha where a tall rocky outcrop in Hells gate national park was named after him.

Although many theories have come up from a diversity of sources explaining what could be the most possible cause of this ‘snow fall’, effects of global warming should be given a priority. What happened in Nyahururu on Tuesday should not be taken lightly. The event shows how evident the effects of global warming have become significantly unpredictable and perilous. The whole world should take the Nyahururu event as a case study of how unpredictable the magnitudes of global warming effects are.

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