El Niño a global phenomena - Meteorological Service

LUBULINI – Director of Eswatini Meteorological Service Duduzile Nhlengethwa says El Niño is a global phenomena.

She said during this time of the year, temperatures were higher than expected.

Nhlengethwa said during the time of El Niño, since the Pacific Ocean is the biggest water mass globally, it then affected the energy balance of the weather.

“It is not the only thing that affects our season but has a significant impact. So in our region, El Niño is associated with drought. But again, it is what we call a slow on event, meaning, that it cannot be a dry season within a short space of time, but depends on when the phenomena started,” she said.

Regarding this year’s El Niño, as per the predictions, the director said they discovered that the first half of the season would have normal to above normal rainfall. She said they even announced the second half of the season being okay, although having normal to below normal rainfall. Nhlengethwa said they had to monitor the situation and give the nation the latest developments.

“So, the first half by and large, we had above average normal rainfall, since we all know the months of October and November are associated with rainfall. However, in November, the rainfall dropped and on the other hand, temperatures increased. Despite all of that, if you combine October with December, we received above average rainfall in the country,” she said. Nhlengethwa said those farmers who grew crops in November were greatly affected by the heatwave, while those who grew crops earlier, their yield was also affected, but not severely.

According to Nhlengethwa, crops failed to ripen beginning from December to late January. It was then that the produce might have been affected by the normal to below normal rainfall. “At the moment, it looks like the country is receiving normal to below normal rainfall,” she said.

Positively, the director highlighted that despite the Lubuli plight, the good news was that El Niño was not proceeding to the next season.

She said if the status quo continued, even in the next season, the whole world would find itself experiencing more hardship, just like it happened in 2015/16. In terms of Lubuli average rainfall, she said she did not have the exact figures. She, however, said since the area was situated around Nsoko, it always experienced low rainfall.

“Over the years, the rainfall in this area had tried to improve, but that does not mean it increased,” she said. She said since the amount of rainfall in this area was low, the moment the rainfall stopped, the area became dry within a short space of time, resulting in severe negative impact.

Lubuli’s annual average rainfall, according to Nhlengethwa, is 560mm. She further said December and January collected 90mm of rainfall. She said the area received 8mm of rainfall in the month of July.