For those visiting Nakuru for the first time, or recently moved into Kenya’s fourth city, you would be very amazed by the weather pattern in the town. The unpredictability and inconsistency is something that even we, the residents, find strange.

In any normal setting, one would associate the cold with rainy weather, muddy pavements and flooded roads but in Nakuru, it can be cold and at the same time very dusty, leaving you wondering kwani huku kunaendaje?

But that is not even the weirdest bit. I remember there was a day I had planned to run some errands in Kiamunyi, at Mercy Njeri and at that time I was in town. I called the person I was to meet up with and he tells me we should reschedule our meeting for two hours because it was raining heavily.

So two hours later I made my way to Mercy Njeri and upon arrival it was dusty and no sign of rainfall which had me wondering why would he lie to me?

Lakini makosa haikuwa yake. It had rained but it seems in Nakuru vumbi is constant, literally.

I always hear the reason for this is because the volcanic soil does not retain water, but what do I know hio labda tuulize geologist.

There are those who always dress according to the weather. But in Nakuru you should always have a jacket with you yes ata kama kuna jua.

In Nakuru a day can start being sunny and you are in your sleeveless tshirt walking in the city centre, thinking venye umepiga luku. All over sudden, the clouds start gathering and soon enough it starts raining.

This leaves you shivering and it makes it worse when you are rained on, juu sasa utabaki na homa but on the bright side utakuwa umepiga luku.

Also another point to note, in Nakuru when it rains you should not stop and seek shelter.

Juu enyewe the Nakuru rains do not know when it should stop. Na mambo hukuwa mawili, it's either you walk in the rain ndio ufike home ama ungojee mvua iishe huko saa nne usiku ufike home.

But all in all we are always grateful for the rains.

The intrigues of Nakuru's unpredictable weather patterns

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Bret Sanya