Rain despite El Niño

Frank Steffen
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) unveiled the 27th Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF-27) report for the 2023-24 rainy season last week.

According to this prediction, most of the SADC region is expected to receive normal to below-average rainfall for the majority of October and December this year - except for the northwestern part of Angola, most of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the southern half of Tanzania, northeastern Zambia, the northern part of Malawi and Mozambique, Comoros, the eastern part of Madagascar and Mauritius, where even normal to above-average rainfall is expected.

Tanzania and Seychelles can expect above-average rainfall.

Normal to above-average

Normal to above-average rainfall is expected for most regions during December, January and February, except for the southwestern coastal strip of Namibia, the southwestern and northern parts of South Africa, the southern part of Zimbabwe, the eastern half of Botswana, Eswatini and the southern part of Mozambique, where normal to below-average rainfall is expected.

In recent weeks, there have been speculations and reports from various sources about the impending El Niño phenomenon. The report confirmed it, but pointed to typical El Niño values on one side and the positive impact of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) on the other.

SARCOF-27 was developed through the cooperation and support of SADC member countries and the European Union under the Intra-ACP Climate Services and Related Applications Project, among other partners. Experts from countries such as Australia, India and Asia generally participate.

Farmers can get a better understanding of their own environment by visiting namibiarangelands.com. The Namibian Agricultural Union often references the website as it tracks weather trends and pasture conditions.

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-19

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