Horn of Africa on track for 5th failed rainy season: WMO

People wait for water with containers at a camp, one of the 500 camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in town, in Baidoa, Somalia, on February 13, 2022. (File/AFP)

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday that forecasts for October-December show high chances of drier-than-average conditions in the Horn of Africa as the worst drought in more than 40 years looks almost certain to persist.

“Sadly, our models show with a high degree of confidence that we are entering the 5th consecutive failed rainy season in the Horn of Africa,” said Guleid Artan, Director of the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC), WMO’s regional climate center for East Africa.

“In Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, we are on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe” he added.