Brace for a wetter summer: What a weak La Niña means for South Africans

SA Weather Service urges South Africans to practice caution and heed weather warnings in the coming weeks. 

The country is set to enter a period of heightened weather risk as it enters into a weak La Niña event.

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Professor Guy Midgley, Stellenbosch University School for Climate Studies Director, explained that the climate phenomenon affects the tropics and subtropics.

It occurs when ocean temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean become cooler than usual, resulting in wetter-than-normal summers in Southern Africa.

Midgley said this will particularly affect KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape over the Christmas, New Year's, and back-to-school periods before clearing up.

“We should be trending back to neutral conditions by the first quarter of next year… And a risk of a somewhat dry-to-normal end of next year.”

To listen to Midgley in conversation with 702’s Thabo Shole Mashao, click the audio player below: