NAIROBI, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Horn of Africa is forecast to experience drier-than-usual conditions from October to December, the Climate Prediction and Applications Center of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an East African bloc, said on Thursday.
"Drier-than-usual conditions are expected over most parts of Somalia, Djibouti, coastal Sudan and Eritrea, southern Ethiopia, Kenya, and central to southern Uganda and Tanzania," the center said in its latest forecast.
Warmer-than-average conditions are expected across most parts of the region, with the highest probabilities over parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, and Tanzania, the agency added.
Traditionally, the October-to-December period has been a rainy season, allowing farmers to plant a second crop after the March-to-May rains, but climate change has disrupted these weather patterns.
The dry conditions are expected to affect food security in the region, where 72 million people are food insecure, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and IGAD.
