Indian Ocean Dipole

2 stories · latest 21 Oct 2026 · All topics

Science 21 Oct 2026

Why El Niño favours wet short rains in Kenya and drought in southern Africa

El Niño is forecast to pass the +2.6°C record for the Niño 3.4 index, the World Meteorological Organization said on 8 October 2026; NOAA material and journal papers explain why that tends to mean more rain in East Africa and less in the south.

A rainstorm sweeps across the open plains of the Masai Mara, Narok County, Kenya (file photo, August 2023).

Science 12 Oct 2026

Kenya's short rains: what the Indian Ocean Dipole is and how it moves the rain

The Indian Ocean Dipole, a sea-temperature gap across the Indian Ocean, tends to bring heavier October–December rain to Kenya when its western side is warmer, the Kenya Meteorological Department says. A Kenya Meteorological Department official was quoted by the farming news site FarmBizAfrica on 18 September as saying the dipole was still neutral, and the World Meteorological Organization predicted on 8 October that it would peak in October.