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United Nations aid officials have put Southern Africa on alert for a rapidly intensifying El Niño that is forecast to reach exceptional strength just as the region’s farmers plant their main maize crop. The warning, issued on 28 August by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), urges governments to act now, months before any rains fail.
El Niño is a natural climate pattern in which surface waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean warm unusually, shifting rainfall around the globe. In Southern Africa, strong events typically bring a drier and hotter main rainy season.
