NAIROBI, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The majority of the Horn of Africa is expected to be warmer than usual between February and April, heightening the likelihood of extreme weather events that could impact the region's vulnerability, a regional climate center said Thursday.
Temperatures in some countries with arid areas, including Kenya and Somalia, may reach 40 degrees Celsius, causing heat stress, said the Climate Prediction Center of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional bloc, in its latest forecast.
The high temperatures would follow a period of El Nino rains that caused heavy flooding and displacement, it warned.
Besides the warmer temperatures, the Nairobi-based institution said that some countries in the region would further experience wetter than normal conditions as the climate crisis intensifies.
The countries expected to experience wetter conditions include parts of Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, southern South Sudan, much of Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti.
"High chances of wetter than usual conditions are indicated over equatorial and north-eastern parts of the region from February to April," said the climate center.
The Horn of Africa recorded harsh effects of climate change last year, experiencing the worst drought ending in March 2023, followed by El Nino rains from October to December.
Some 23.4 million people across the Horn of Africa faced hunger, of whom 5.1 million children were malnourished, according to the World Food Program.
On the other hand, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 479 people were killed, and more than 5.2 million people were affected by flooding caused by El Nino rains between October and December 2023 in Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Burundi and Ethiopia. ■
