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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About these tools

Town Tools builds free, public tools for Isiolo and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.

Where the year stands

It is the short rains (OND season) — usually the bigger season here: November averages about 101 mm, the wettest month of the year.

Season	When
Short dry spell	1 January – 29 February
Long rainsMAM season	1 March – 31 May
Long dry season	1 June – 30 September
Short rainsOND season	1 October – 31 December	now

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.

Day

Rain

Chance of rain

Mon, 12 Oct (today)

0 mm

Tue, 13 Oct

0 mm

Wed, 14 Oct

0 mm

40%

Thu, 15 Oct

0 mm

67%

Fri, 16 Oct

0 mm

25%

Sat, 17 Oct

0 mm

16%

Sun, 18 Oct

6 mm

49%

Worth knowing

Market days and the rains

The livestock sales yard runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday all year. NDMA's bulletins read prices and rain together — by the May 2026 bulletin the March–May long rains had restored pasture, body condition and milk, and the county drought phase had returned to Normal.

Water

Town supply is rationed in dry spells — the water company points to uncontrolled upstream abstraction and damaged infrastructure. In May 2026, after the long rains recharged rivers and pans, a 20-litre jerrican cost Ksh 2–5 at community water kiosks (about Ksh 20 from vendors at Modogashe's traditional river wells), and households walked about 1.4 km return to water — well below the seasonal norm. Both cost and distance climb again through the June–September dry spell.

Drought phases

NDMA classifies the county every month — Normal, Alert, Alarm, Emergency — and the phase moves with these rains. As of the May 2026 bulletin the county was Normal and improving. The livestock price board on this site shows the current phase from the latest bulletin.

Rain Outlook

About these tools

Where the year stands

The last 30 days

The week ahead

Worth knowing

Market days and the rains

Water

Drought phases