Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services (MET) has disclosed that Malawi is to be free from El-Nino and La-Nina climate phenomena in the coming farming period.
According to MET, the development has led Malawi to have normal rainfall pattern for the forthcoming agriculture season in the country.
However, MET director Jolamu NKhokwe explained that the country may experience the impacts of El-Nino and La-Nina in some parts of the country.
“What we are saying is that 2019/20 is a season whereby we don’t have El-nino or La- Nina in the oceans, what we have is neutral conditions in the pacific ocean,” said Nkhokwe.
“Because of that, looking at other predictors, rainfall over the region including Malawi, we have seen that the country is to experience normal rainfall from October to March,” he added.
For the past years, Malawi has been hit with El-Nino and La-Nina that resulted in persistent dry spells and floods respectively.
El Niño is the warming phase of water temperatures around the Pacific Equator.
During normal weather patterns around the Equator, trade winds carry warm water from the tropical areas of the Pacific Ocean.
Moving west, the winds distribute warm water from the Eastern Pacific into the cooler areas of the ocean.
While La-Nina is cooling phase of water temperatures around the Pacific Equator.
