Rare ‘triple dip’ La Niña declared (

Gordon_R

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The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has announced that the weather phenomenon La Niña has formed for the third consecutive year in the Pacific.

This is only the third time since records began that there have been three consecutive La Niña events.

"It is exceptional to have three consecutive years with a La Nina event," WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said.
Head of long-range forecasts at BOM, Dr Andrew Watkins, said that climate influences like La Niña and another called the Indian Ocean Dipole, "push Australia's climate towards a wetter phase, and together have shaped our outlook for the coming months that shows more than 80% chance of above average rainfall for many parts of the eastern half of Australia".

Dr Watkins went on to say that, "with catchments already wet, the flood risk remains, particularly for eastern Australia."
A fourth season of failed rains is currently causing one of the worst droughts East Africa has seen in decades.

Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the UN. The UN's World Food Programme says up to 20 million people are at risk of severe hunger.
 
That's good news. It means South Africa will also again be getting good rain.
 
Not sure where you guys live, but the Eastern Cape is in a terrible drought...

Yeah, its kind of weird because the rest of the country is good as far as I am aware and the rainfall is bad if there is La Nino.

I guees the Eastern Cape is turning into a desert.
 
Not so sunny in Sydney in 2022:
With 86 days left of 2022, Australia's biggest city - Sydney - has broken its annual rainfall record.

The city has received more than 2,200mm of rainfall since January, Australia's weather agency announced.

Widespread flooding across Australia - driven by a La Niña weather pattern - has already killed more than 20 people this year.
More heavy rain and storms are forecast for the coming days but catchments are saturated, dams are full, and rivers are already swollen, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

That means many areas are primed for rapid flooding.

"Our message for the community in the coming days is prepare now," forecaster Gabrielle Woodhouse said.

"[This flooding] looks as though it's going to be more significant than what we have been seeing over the past 12 months."
 
This is good for us in Gauteng. If Rand Water is currently incapable of handling a system where the dams are mostly full imagine how badly they'll run the system when the dam levels dip to 80%
 
Signs of a switch to El Nino conditions during 2023:
_129487747_sst_anomaly_march23-2x-nc.png.webp
 
El Nino affects summer rainfall areas in Southern Africa. We are going into winter, and the Vaal Dam is full, so this is not an immediate issue.

100%... I'm being forward thinking since I live in one of those summer rainfall areas and I know its gonna be a fsckup cos the dams are gonna drop and we're going to get water restrictions again more than likely.
 
100%... I'm being forward thinking since I live in one of those summer rainfall areas and I know its gonna be a fsckup cos the dams are gonna drop and we're going to get water restrictions again more than likely.
Add poorly maintained infrastructure and load shedding related pumping issues, it's not going to be pretty.
 
Add poorly maintained infrastructure and load shedding related pumping issues, it's not going to be pretty.

Oh I hadn't considered the pumps that will be run dry for hours at a time because nobody is monitoring fsckall... yay, even better.
 
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