- Most of the greater Horn of Africa observed a decrease in rainfall over the previous week.
- Early season rainfall remains below normal for portions of West Africa.
1) Since late December, an unseasonable distribution of monsoonal rainfall has resulted in anomalous dryness and poor ground conditions unfavorable for crops across several local areas in southern Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and South Africa.
3) Poorly distributed rainfall and extended dry spells since January have led to large rainfall deficits and degraded vegetation conditions in southern Angola and northern Namibia.
4) Very poor rainfall since February combined with only one week of significant rainfall since mid-March has led to large moisture deficits and rapidly deteriorating ground conditions in Ethiopia, Djibouti and eastern Eritrea. The extended absence of precipitation through the season is likely to adversely affect cropping activities for several “Belg” producing areas of the country.
5) Late season moisture deficits associated with an early cessation of the southern Africa monsoon has negatively affected cropping conditions for parts of northern Malawi and northern Mozambique.
6) Untimely rains and prolonged dry spells have resulted in failed crops over unimodal areas in the Dodoma, Singida, Shinyanga, Tabora, and Kigoma provinces of central Tanzania.
7) Persistent wetness and torrential amounts of rainfall triggered flooding for areas near Lake Victoria in Western Kenya and Nairobi. Enhanced rainfall is forecast in the region during the next seven days.