ABSTRACT
P. K. Acheampong looked elsewhere to seek to explain the existence of the Togo Gap. He noted what has been indicated in the preceding chapter, that rainfall in West Africa comes from four sources: the monsoon, line squalls, local thunderstorms and waves in the easterlies. A cooler ocean surface, over which the prevailing winds pass before moving onshore, should lead to a lowering of surface air temperatures and reduce the tendency for uplift and rain. However the period of minimum temperatures in the Togo Gap is also the period of lowest temperatures throughout southern West Africa as a whole, and the mean minimum values for coastal stations in the Togo Gap are not significantly lower than elsewhere along the Guinea coast. Explanations for the unique climate of the Togo Gap have been sought for many years and the main hypotheses have been neatly summed up by Trewartha.
