The Northcentral part of Nigeria as well as some other parts of the country are likely to experience delayed rainfall this year, the Federal Government has said.
The government announced the weather forecast through its agency, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet).
The government said a normal onset would likely occur across the northern states with Borno, Abia, and Akwa Ibom states forecasted to have an early onset, compared to their long-term averages.
An early end of the season is predicted in some parts of Yobe, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa Taraba, Gombe, Bauchi, Cross River, Ebonyi, Ogun, and Lagos states.
But a late cessation is forecasted to occur over Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Ekiti, and parts of Edo, Delta, Ogun, Oyo, Kogi, Kwara, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Niger, and Kaduna states.
This was part of this year’s weather outlook presented by NiMet at its 2024 Seasonal Climate Prediction and unveiled by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), yesterday in Abuja.
The report showed that annual rainfall would be below normal over parts of Yobe, Jigawa, Bauchi, Kano, Kebbi, Gombe, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa, Benue, Enugu, Ebonyi, Cross River, Delta, and Bayelsa states, compared to their long-term normal.
But other parts of the country are likely to observe normal to above-normal annual rainfall.
