The months of June, July, and August will be characterised by a dry spell, the latest forecast by the Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA) indicates.
In the forecast issued last week, UNMA said the southwestern and central regions, the Lake Victoria basin, and parts of the eastern region will be experiencing a dry spell.
However, the northern part of the country, the weather experts said, will continue receiving some rainfall.
“Parts of central and southwestern Uganda are likely to experience dry conditions during the forecast period. The rest of the country is expected to receive near-normal to above normal rainfall,” reads in part the statement by UNMA.
According to weather experts, the major climate factors that are likely to influence the rainfall outlook for June, July, and August include the current neutral state of the sea surface temperatures over the equatorial central Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean Dipole, which is currently in the neutral phase, and the influence of the Congo air mass circulation.
About the impact of the expected dry spell, UNMA warns that there will be a shortage of pasture and water for livestock production, and water stress for crops such as bananas, coffee, tea, and fruit trees.
Others are fish that tend to migrate to deeper waters affecting their production system, strong winds associated with strong waves on the lakes and rivers, causing accidents, and fish nets are washed away by strong winds, leading to what is termed as ghost fishing.
Going forward, the farmers have been encouraged to mulch their gardens to conserve soil moisture, plant short-maturing crops such as cowpeas, and leafy vegetables, and drought-tolerant crop varieties such as sorghum and millet. Others are storing or stocking enough food for household use, diversifying the economic enterprises to ensure a fallback position, and preparing land for the next rainfall season.
The farmers are also advised to stock farm inputs for the coming season such as seeds and garden tools, irrigation of farmlands, backyard/ homestead gardening of vegetables, using water sparingly, avoid overloading of boats due to expected strong winds and put up more beehives.
“Uganda National Meteorological Authority will continue to monitor the evolution of the relevant weather systems and issue appropriate weather alerts, updates, and advisories to the users regularly. This seasonal forecast should be used together with other forecasts such as daily, decadal (10-days), and monthly updates regularly provided by UNMA,” the statement adds.
