Rain Outlook
Where the rains stand: the last 30 days against the 30-year average for Isiolo, the week ahead, and the long-rains/short-rains calendar.
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Where the rains stand: the last 30 days against the 30-year average for Isiolo, the week ahead, and the long-rains/short-rains calendar.
Two short rainy seasons separated by long dry spells decide pasture, milk and water distances here. This page shows how the last 30 days compare with the 30-year average for the same dates, and what the weather model expects this week.
It is the long dry season — strong dry winds and dust through town from June to August; distances to water and pasture lengthen.
| Season | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Short dry spell | 1 January – 29 February | |
| Long rainsMAM season | 1 March – 31 May | |
| Long dry season | 1 June – 30 September | now |
| Short rainsOND season | 1 October – 31 December |
Season boundaries follow NDMA's seasonal calendar for Isiolo, checked against 1991–2020 ERA5 monthly averages for this grid point (about 555 mm a year). Onsets drift: the 2026 long rains arrived in late February, and the 2025 short rains underperformed badly.
That is far less rain than is typical for these dates.
No day this week is forecast to bring 1 mm of rain or more.
| Day | Rain | Chance of rain |
|---|---|---|
| Fri 12 Jun (today) | 0 mm | 18% |
| Sat 13 Jun | 0 mm | 10% |
| Sun 14 Jun | 0 mm | 0% |
| Mon 15 Jun | 0 mm | 0% |
| Tue 16 Jun | 0 mm | 25% |
| Wed 17 Jun | 0 mm | 13% |
| Thu 18 Jun | 0 mm | 6% |
The livestock sales yard runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday all year. NDMA's bulletins read prices and rain together — the February 2026 bulletin expected livestock prices to improve from March as the early rains restored body condition.
Town supply is rationed in dry spells — the water company points to uncontrolled upstream abstraction and damaged infrastructure. In February 2026 a 20-litre jerrican cost Ksh 2–5 at community water kiosks, more from vendors in outlying settlements, and households walked about 2.2 km return to water.
NDMA classifies the county every month — Normal, Alert, Alarm, Emergency — and the phase moves with these rains. The livestock price board on this site shows the current phase from the latest bulletin.
Updated 12 June at 23:19. Rain figures are weather-model estimates for the area around Isiolo town — useful for comparing periods, not exact bucketfuls; one valley can catch a storm the next one misses. The “typical” figures are 1991–2020 averages from the same modelling family (ERA5), so the comparison is like-for-like. Weather data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).