Crops · dekad 2026-08-11
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is 5th most stressed of 26 observations for this point in the season, and rose over this window, ranking 21st of 26 by fall steepness, from the 14th highest starting level of those 26. None of its 3 crop regions is at a record low on the measure that adds up the whole season, marked below, which is also the slowest of them to move.
No crop region in Sierra Leone is at its worst in 26 years for this point in the season.
Three instruments, 3 regions, one day. Each region against its own 26 years, never against another region.
Vegetation, current
0 of 3 regions at their own record
Sierra Leone: 0.54 standard deviations above normal
Water satisfaction
2 of 3 regions at their own record
Sierra Leone: 89% of crop water need met, normally 97%
Rainfall, 3-month
0 of 3 regions at their own record
Sierra Leone: 1.43 standard deviations below normal
A heavy outline is that region's worst in 26 years. Different facts: a region can be dark without an outline, meaning far from normal but it has been worse, or outlined without being darkest, a record but a narrow one.
Every panel saturates at 2.5 standard deviations below that region's own normal, so a colour means the same distance-from-normal on all three. It does not mean the same consequence: these measure different things and move at different speeds. The figures under each heading stay in the instrument's own units.
A fourth instrument is not shown here. Cumulative vegetation, the crop-outcome measure closest to yield, reads 19th of 26 for this country with no region at a record. It integrates from the start of the season, so it is structurally the last to move and reads calmest exactly when a fast deterioration is under way. It is left off the panels to keep three maps comparable in kind; it is on the page in full below.
What moved, and when
Each square is one dekad, and its shade shows how many of this country’s crop regions stood at their own worst on record for that point in the season. Rows are ordered by how much time each instrument summarises, shortest first, because a shorter window can move sooner. That order is fixed and is the same on every country page.
The driver is water. This section says what moved and when. It never says because.
These 23 dekads were picked rather than derived. A shorter window changes which peak looks like the first, and a sequence visible inside a window may not exist outside it.
How bad is it, against this country’s own record
Five instruments read together our combination, not an observation
5th worst of 26 years at this point in the season
The 5th most stressed of 26 observations for this point in the season, 2001-2026, across 5 instruments read together
- Every input is measured against its own record, but no source publishes this average. It is our combination, not an observation.
- This value places the country against itself, so it does not rank countries against each other. Its year-to-year spread here is 0.16, and that spread differs by place, so a higher value elsewhere can be a less unusual year than this one. The rank is the comparable figure.
- A reading of conditions to date. It carries no statement about the rest of the season.
What the instruments say
The canopy is in its best third, while water satisfaction and rainfall are in their worst third.
Each track is that instrument’s own 26 years, worst on the left.
Five instruments, each against its own 26 years for this point in the season. They are shown together because they can disagree: a region can sit at a record low on vegetation while water or rainfall sits in its best third. 38 of the 196 regions at a record low on current vegetation have water or rainfall sitting in its own best third at the same moment, about one in five. This page reports where each one sits and does not say what caused what.
Every region of Sierra Leone, worst to least
Each bar is the full spread of that region’s previous 25 years at this point in the season. The dot is this year. A dot at the left of a wide bar and a dot at the left of a narrow bar are different findings, which is why the history is drawn rather than described.
Regions in colour are at their worst on record. The rest are placed on the same scale so a single deep region inside an otherwise ordinary country reads differently from a country where the whole distribution has moved.
Eastern
-0.73 5th lowest of 26 observations for this point in the season, 2001-2026
Vegetation here usually tracks water availability.
same dekad, 2001-2025
Southern
-0.62 7th lowest of 26 observations for this point in the season, 2001-2026
Vegetation here usually tracks water availability.
same dekad, 2001-2025
Northern
+0.28 19th lowest of 26 observations for this point in the season, 2001-2026
same dekad, 2001-2025
This measurement is of the crop canopy and not of what stressed it: heat, drought, disease and late planting are not separable here, which is why no claim on this page names a cause.