3.2.1. Temperature Variability

There was noticeable inter-annual and seasonal variability in the average temperature of the study areas (Figure 2). In the lowland and midland areas, the annual average temperature was less than the overall average of the observation period during the first two decades. However, the anomaly indices were positive in recent years, suggesting that the areas are warming. The pattern in the midland areas shows warmer years during the first one and half decade and colder years recently. During most of the years since 2001, the average annual temperature was consecutively lower than the 30 years average. The annual variability of average temperature was very high during the *belg* season compared to the *kiremt* season in all areas.

**Figure 2.** Trends of standardized anomaly index of average annual temperature by agro-ecological settings and season (1988–2017).
