Climate is the average weather of a place over many years. In West Africa the rainy season and the dry season follow the movement of the rain belt.
The idea
The intertropical convergence zone is the belt where moist winds from the ocean meet drier air from the land. It shifts north and south with the overhead sun. When it is over a place, or close to it, that place has its rains. When it moves away, the rains stop. Southern Ghana therefore has a longer rainy season than the far north, because the belt spends more of the year over the south. You do not need a rainfall total. You need the movement.
The harmattan is a dry, dusty wind from the north east, off the Sahara, in the dry season. It brings low humidity, haze, cooler nights and a risk of dry skin, cracked lips and respiratory irritation. It is not a rainy wind. Vegetation matches the rainfall pattern: forest where rain is heavier and more reliable, grassland further north where the dry season is longer. Climate and vegetation questions are often one question. Answer both parts.
What earns the marks
Name the wind and the season. Harmattan is dry season, north east, dusty. The rain belt is the intertropical convergence zone. Do not say the harmattan brings the rains. A reason for heavier rain in the south should mention how long the rain belt stays, or the moist wind from the sea, not a memorised millimetre total. If you give a figure the question did not provide, you are guessing.
Practice questions
These are practice questions in the style of the paper, with a model answer and a mark scheme. They are not a promise of what your paper will ask.
1Question 1
4 marks
(a) What is the harmattan? (2 marks)
(b) State two effects it has on people or on the air. (2 marks)
Model answer
(a) It is a dry, dusty wind from the Sahara that blows into West Africa in the dry season.
(b) It lowers humidity and it can irritate the throat and the skin. Visibility falls because of the dust.
Mark scheme
Dry and dusty, or from the Sahara or the north east1 mark
Blows in the dry season1 mark
One effect, such as low humidity, haze, or health irritation1 mark
A second effect1 mark
2Question 2
3 marks
Explain why the rainy season is generally longer in southern Ghana than in the far north. (3 marks)
Model answer
The rain belt, the intertropical convergence zone, moves with the sun. It lies over the south for more of the year. The north is under it for a shorter time, so the rains there are shorter.
Mark scheme
Names the intertropical convergence zone or the rain belt1 mark
It migrates north and south during the year1 mark
It influences the south for longer than the far north1 mark
3Question 3
2 marks
State one difference between weather and climate. (2 marks)
Model answer
Weather is the condition of the atmosphere at a particular time. Climate is the average of that weather over many years.
Mark scheme
Weather is short term or day to day1 mark
Climate is the long term average1 mark
Practise Geography with Anna
More questions on this topic are inside GLearn, marked as you answer, with the reason written out. The first ones need no account.
A dry, dusty wind from the north east, from the Sahara, in the dry season. It lowers humidity and can reduce visibility. It does not bring the rains. The rains are associated with the intertropical convergence zone.
Why does southern Ghana have a longer rainy season than the far north?+
The belt of rain moves north and south through the year. It stays over the south for longer. The far north is under it for a shorter part of the year, so the wet season there is shorter. All WASSCE Geography past questions