Rains set to resume

The Meteorological Services Department said: “We are expecting the rains to resume, starting over Mashonaland Province and then to cover the rest of the country as we go into the weekend. The amount that is expected is moderate. We are not expecting heavy rains.”

Met Department’s head of climate applications Mr Tirivanhu Muhwati said for the past week, Zimbabwe had experienced a mid-season dry spell.
“For January, February and March, we are expecting the amount of rainfall to be normal,” he said.
In its seasonal forecast, the Met Department said normal rains with a bias towards above normal were expected in the Mashonaland pro-vinces, northeastern parts of Matabeleland North, most of Manicaland and the northern parts of the Midlands. Above normal to normal rains are expected in Region 2 and 3 (Masvingo, most of Matabeleland North, the extreme southern parts of Manicaland, Matabeleland South and the southern parts of Midlands).

The World Meteorological Organisation last year said latest outputs from forecast models suggest that peak intensity of this La Niña will be reached in late 2011 or early 2012

La Niña events are generally associated with increased rainfall and floods in southern African countries including Angola, southern Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe during summer, as well as some parts of West Africa.