Tanzania short rains and its relations to Trans‐Atlantic‐Pacific Ocean Dipole‐like pattern

Abstract Previous studies have suggested that interocean interactions can improve our understanding of climate's impacts on extreme weather events. The present study investigates how the interaction between the tropical eastern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans impacts extreme weather events over Tanzania. Results illustrate that the proposed Trans‐Atlantic‐Pacific Ocean Dipole index (TAPODI) is significantly correlated with the short rains over Tanzania. The wavelet coherence analysis showed that the variability of the short rains was influenced principally by the TAPODI on the interannual (1–5 years) scale. The association between TAPODI and short rains is in‐phase, with the phase of TAPODI lags that of the short rains by 90°. The positive phase of the TAPODI is associated with the advection of moist air from the Congo basin that favours ascent motion and leads to above‐normal rainfall over Tanzania. The negative phase of the TAPODI is related to sinking motions, accompanied by divergent winds at low level that block winds from the Congo basin and the western Indian Ocean, hence leads to below‐normal rainfall over Tanzania. Therefore, the study revealed the interactions between the tropical Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, which will improve the climate predictability and prediction of the short rains over Tanzania.