A drier-than-normal condition following high temperatures and increased evaporation effects in the northern areas created water stress for animal breeding, and this has impacted negatively in the sector during the month. The arrival of the rains in the coming months will assist the situation positively. 3.4.4 Management There are prospects of water availability for most uses as the rains reach the inland areas in the coming months. The month witnessed rainfall activities across the country. This had some impacts on different cities shown in Table 2. Other impacts on Marine, Agriculture and Hydrology sub-sectors are also discussed below. 3.5 ENSO UPDATE Fig. 27: ENSO-neutral is expected to continue through the Northern Hemisphere spring 2014, with about a 50% chance of El Niño developing during the summer The model predictions of ENSO for this summer and beyond are relatively unchanged from the previous month. Almost all the models indicate that (Niño-3.4 index between -0.5°C and 0.5°C) will persist through the rest of the Northern Hemisphere spring 2014. This is in consonance with the provisions in the 2014 SRP on this subject. 3.6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION The upward movement of the major synoptic features continued slowly during January March 2014. The ITD reached 12.8oN in during the last decade of – March 2014. The maximum temperature continued its rise, reaching the peak of 43.5°C in parts of the far north in March. There was persistence of very temperature values (in the range 40.0 43.5°C) for several days in the far north, thereby creating island” with extended discomfort for days. The nights “heat were cooler in and around Kano and the southeast, it was however very warm in the southwest and parts of the northeast and northwest in January and February. Rainfall is increasing gradually as expected, and wetter-than-normal conditions have been observed in the southwest and parts of Akwa Ibom and Cross River States, and other areas in the Niger Delta. It is expected to further move inland in the coming months.
A drier-than-normal condition following high temperatures and increased evaporation effects in the northern areas created water stress for animal breeding, and this has impacted negatively in the sector during the month. The arrival of the rains in the coming months will assist the situation positively. 3.4.4 Management There are prospects of water availability for most uses as the rains reach the inland areas in the coming months. The month witnessed rainfall activities across the country. This had some impacts on different cities shown in Table 2. Other impacts on Marine, Agriculture and Hydrology sub-sectors are also discussed below. 3.5 ENSO UPDATE Fig. 27: ENSO-neutral is expected to continue through the Northern Hemisphere spring 2014, with about a 50% chance of El Niño developing during the summer The model predictions of ENSO for this summer and beyond are relatively unchanged from the previous month. Almost all the models indicate that (Niño-3.4 index between -0.5°C and 0.5°C) will persist through the rest of the Northern Hemisphere spring 2014. This is in consonance with the provisions in the 2014 SRP on this subject. 3.6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION The upward movement of the major synoptic features continued slowly during January – March 2014. The ITD reached 12.8oN in during the last decade of March 2014. The maximum temperature continued its rise, reaching the peak of 43.5°C in parts of the far north in March. There was persistence of very temperature values (in the range 40.0 43.5°C) for several days in the far north, thereby creating “heat island” with extended discomfort for days. The nights were cooler in and around Kano and the southeast, it was however very warm in the southwest and parts of the northeast and northwest in January and February. Rainfall is increasing gradually as expected, and wetter-than-normal conditions have been observed in the southwest and parts of Akwa Ibom and Cross River States, and other areas in the Niger Delta. It is expected to further move inland in the coming months.
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