The Uganda Meteorological Authority (UMA) has issued a weather advisory indicating that Uganda will have an El Nino season all year.
With this season, the weather service predicts that vast regions of the country will experience slightly increased rains and below-average rains from August to December.
El Nino is the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction linked to a periodic warming of, Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTS) across the central and east-central Equatorial Pacific Ocean.
According to UMA, El Niño events occur irregularly at intervals of 2-7 years, although the average is about once every 3-4 years.
“El Niño directly affects rainfall distribution in the tropics and will have a strong influence on weather across Uganda during the September to December rainfall season. The presence of El Niño can significantly influence weather patterns across Uganda and other parts of the world for an extended period of time. 2.0,” said Bob Alex Ogwang, the executive director of UMA.
He also revealed that the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and other Global Climate Centres report that El Nio has been evolving since March 2023, following a long multi-year La Nia, and is expected to last until early 2024.
“The potential impacts of El Nino in Uganda is often associated with heavy (enhanced) rainfall. It should be noted that El Niño alone does not translate into rainfall but rather an effect that modulates weather patterns leading to increased rainfall over Uganda during the September, October, November and December (SOND) rainfall season,” he said
In anticipation of El Nino likely conditions, the UMA has advised government and the general public to develop preparedness and response actions to manage the likely impacts associated with this phenomenon.
Meanwhile, individuals involved in the agricultural sector have been advised to continue with their activities because the season is most likely to be favorable as authoritiea in urban areas have been told to clear their drainage systems to avoid flooding.