Climatic Classification

In the Köppen climatic classification, the Limpopo River basin falls into several different classes (Köppen 1918; Rosenberg 1999; Rubel and Kottek 2010):

• The basin as a whole is classified as semi-arid, dry and hot - BSh
• The central river valley, arid, dry and hot - BWh
• The highveld of South Africa is classified as temperate, with summer rainfall and cool to hot summers - Cwc and Cwa.

The map below shows the distribution of the Köppen classes for the Limpopo River basin. These data are calculated at a global scale, hence the coarse nature of the map data.

For more information on the criteria used to define the Köppen classification, please refer to the University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna Köppen-Gieger website http://koeppen-geiger.vu-wien.ac.at/index.htm

This institute has also used historical climate records from the German Weather Service Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC), to develop a global retrospective assessment of Köppen-Gieger Classes for the period of 1901 to 1925. Furthermore, they have used inputs from global climate models to develop a projected Köppen-Gieger Climate Classification for 2076 to 2100.

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