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CO ME R A IN O R SHIN E ••
What will the outcome of the
new season be?
THYS GROBBELAAR
SENIOR GRAIN ANALYST,
SENWES GRAINLINK
RAINFALL THIS SEASON
The summer season rainfall is
measured from 1 July every year.
July has the lowest rainfall on
average of all the months in the
Senwes area, with an average of
2 mm. The average rainfall during
July of this year in the Senwes area
was 46 mm. It is said that good
rains during the winter usually
result in lower rainfall figures in
mid-summer. There has been
four seasons since 1904 during
which more than 35 mm of rain
fell during July on the Highveld,
during the 1918/19, 1939/40,
1943/44 and 1957/58 seasons.
Above average rainfall was received
during all four seasons. The
1943/44 season was the wettest
season on the Highveld since the
measurement of rainfall commenced.
No rain was received over the
largest part of the Senwes area
during August. See the map on
the top right. Above average rainfall was received during the first
two months of the season over
the traditional Senwes area of
operation. Districts in the Senekal
area received the highest rainfall in
history for July.
The map bottom right reflects
the areas where good rainfall was
received over the past two months.
This rain contributed hugely
towards the soil moisture conditions over a reasonably large area
of the traditional Senwes area of
operation, which in turn contributes towards optimism for a better
season.
Total rainfall for August 2016 for the traditional Senwes area.
Cumulative rainfall for the period 1 July 2016 to 31 August 2016 in the
Senwes area.
PROSPECTS FOR THE
2016/2017 SEASON
There have been a number of negative reports in the news about the
climate prospects for the coming
season. However, not all weather
forecasting services agree with
these negative reports. Let's take
a look at the most important climate indicators.
Meteorologists base their pre-
dictions for the coming season
on a number of indicators. The
Southern Oscilation Index is one
of the important indicators and
indicates the direction of wind
in the central part of the Pacific
Ocean. When the index is negative, it means that the winds in
the central Pacific Ocean mainly
blow from Australia to South
> CONTINUE ON PAGE 48
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