Illustrating the extent and severity of the 2016 Horn of Africa drought

A severe drought, related to La Niña and warm West Pacific sea surface temperatures, significantly impacted rainfall performance during the 2016 October to December season across the Horn of Africa. This drought greatly limited crop production and pastoral resource regeneration. In Somalia in particular, food security impacts are expected to be severe. This report presents a series of maps which illustrate the extent and the severity of the drought, as well as its impacts on crop and rangeland conditions and on food prices. For a more detailed narrative and analysis of the drought’s current and expected impacts on food security, please visit www.fews.net/east.

This map illustrates how rainfall between October and December 2016 deviated from the 1981-2010 average over the Horn of Africa. During this period, rainfall was less than 30 percent of average across much of Somalia and the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The temporal distribution of rainfall across much of Kenya and southern Ethiopia was also very poor.

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