Drought Journal Entry
Kenya Hit With Drought (February 2, 2009)
Color-enhanced satellite view shows parched landscape across much of Kenya. NASA Earth Observatory.
Parts of the East African nation of Kenya have seen litle or no rain for months. Without water, it's been a miserable harvest in the eastern part of the nation this year. Now, ten million people are facing possible food shortages. The government has declared an emergency to make more money available for food.
The color-enhanced satellite image shows vegetation across the region in early January. The driest areas are shown in dark brown. Vegetation across much of the eastern side of Kenya is as much as 100 percent below normal for this time of year.
Kenya's "short rains" season runs from September to December. But this year, rainfall totals were just a fraction of normal in the east and food harvests were way below normal. In western Kenya, the country's main grain-producing region, the land is lush and green. But this year's corn harvest was poor just the same. Violence in the war-torn country made it hard for farmers to get corn seeds in the ground in time.
