Residents of South Africa’s eastern coastal areas should brace for higher-than-normal rainfall in the autumn and early part of winter.

This is according to the South African Weather Service (SAWS), which issued its Seasonal Climate Watch report covering March to July.

“The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (Enso) is still in a weak La Niña state, however, it is expected to return to a neutral state and potentially rapidly evolve into an El Niño state by end of the southern hemisphere winter, which may impact the next summer rainfall areas in South Africa,” said the SAWS.

“It is still too early to indicate confident impacts of this potential El Niño event, but it is advised that potentially impacted users keep up to date with the Enso predictions in the coming months.”

“The south-eastern and eastern coastal areas are expected to receive above-normal rainfall, and the south-western parts below-normal rainfall,” indicated the SAWS, referring to the autumnal and early winter period.

“Minimum and maximum temperatures are largely expected to be above-normal for most parts of South Africa during the autumn and early winter seasons.”

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