In 2015, El Niño ran the province close to a point where it would run out of its available water. A network of 14 dams averted that fate. Now, the population has grown, water use has increased and supply is still at the same level.

Early projections suggest that the La Niña weather phenomenon, which brought above-normal rainfall across the summer crop-growing areas of South Africa and much of Southern Africa, leading to higher crop yields, has ended.

El Nino is still present but may change to neutral in coming winter months and summer of 2019/20. Probable late start to summer rain again. More favourable for Winter Rainfall Regions in next months.

Santam Weather South Africa- 

Australia’s drought has prevailed since 2015 with the past two years being extremely tough on agriculture.

Since Zimbabwe’s land reform of 2000 – when around 8 million hectares of formerly large-scale commercial farmland was distributed to about 175,000 households – debates about the consequences for food security have raged.

The latest monthly Seasonal Climate Watch issued last week by the South African Weather Service, which makes tentative five-month predictions, is chilling. The current one extends to August, with an outlook for wider potential trends beyond that.

Named for the Christ child by South American fishermen because of the warming of the Pacific Ocean surface waters off Chile, usually in December, El Niño – which brings much drier conditions than its counterpart La Niña – is predicted to make its appearance later this year, with dire warnings of soaring temperatures, and reduced rainfall in Southern Africa.

In 2019, Australian skies glowed crimson in one of the country’s worst recorded fire seasons. The infernos blackened some 190,000 square kilometers of land, killing dozens of people along with an estimated 1 billion animals and destroying thousands of structures.

Forecasts of an El Niño occurrence in the 2023/24 summer season do not necessarily equate to a bad agricultural season.

Forecasts of an El Niño occurrence in the 2023/24 summer season do not necessarily equate to a bad agricultural season.

he latest El Nino climate phenomenon has arrived, threatening floods in some areas of the world and droughts in others. Previous disruptive weather patterns cost the global economy trillions and stoked inflation.

The livestock and poultry industry has had a difficult few years. A variety of external shocks including animal diseases and rising input costs — yellow maize and soya bean prices — made for a challenging operating environment for many farmers and agribusinesses.

Die eerste week van Julie was die warmste wat tot nog toe in die Noordelike Halfrond aangeteken is, terwyl Johannesburg vir die eerste keer in 12 jaar sneeu gehad het. ANNELIESE BURGESS praat met prof. Peter Johnston van die Universiteit van Kaapstad se Climate Systems Analysis Group oor die ekstreme weer wat nou oral in die wêreld voorkom.

South Africa’s 2023/24 summer crop production season kicks off soon, and the uncertainty over the intensity of the El Niño weather event, and the higher temperatures and lower-than-normal rainfall it could bring, remains a concern.

El Niño has returned. Here’s what the phenomenon means for extreme weather and global warming.

The latest Seasonal Climate Watch from the SA Weather Service (Saws), which looks five months ahead, still sees a wet summer for South Africa’s northeast and a dry one for the western and central regions — an outlook clouded by the El Niño weather pattern.  

In September, the world passed 1.5°C of warming. Two months later, we hit 2°C of warming. It’s fair to wonder what is going on.

Over the past few weeks, we travelled across most regions of South Africa for meetings with our members, which was also an opportunity to view the summer crop planting progress.