TIME SERIES TREND ANALYSIS OF PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE: THE CASE OF ARBA M INCH TOWN, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Long - term climate averages changes are the result of signific ant annual climate variability. This study aimed at analyzing trends and variability of Temperature and precipitation of Arba Minch Town, in Southern Ethiopia. Temperature and precipitation data were collected from Arba Minch meteorology station from 1987 - 2014 and 1982 - 2014, respectively. Summary descriptive statistics, regression analysis and Mann Kendall trend test method were used to analyze the long - term data. Regression analysis for the trends and Mann - Kendall rank statistic test were used for the exam ination of their significance. Statistically significant abrupt deviations and trends have been identified. The mean maximum temperature ranges between 27.27 o C and 33.37 o C, while, the mean minimum temperature varies between 16.25 o C and 18.3 o C. The mean ann ual average precipitation result has been also found 881.16. Overall, the main findings revealed that the minimum and maximum temperature had generally warming trend likewise the precipitation amount showed long range variability