Triple La Niña could threaten crops in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay

The triple La Niña weather event could threaten crops in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay as droughts are caused by low rainfall and high temperatures, experts warn.

It is the first time in a century that La Niña has occurred in three consecutive years.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned that the world is experiencing the first triple La Niña episode in the 21st century, as the meteorological phenomenon has occurred in three consecutive winters in the northern hemisphere and summers in the southern hemisphere.

The climate phenomenon, which alters temperatures and precipitation and causes droughts and floods, could last through the end of the year and even into early 2023.

Its consecutive occurrence since September 2020 represents an “exceptional event,” according to experts.

According to the WMO, there is a 70% chance that La Niña will cover the period from September to November and 55% from December 2022 to February 2023.

According to WMO Secretary-General Jukka Petteri Taalas, “The worsening drought in the Horn of Africa and the southern part of South America bears the characteristics of La Niña, as does the above-average precipitation observed in Southeast Asia and Australasia.”

Indeed, according to the WMO, La Niña forecasts confirm the occurrence of droughts that could be “devastating,”, especially in East Africa.

But negative impacts are also expected in South America.

The Department of Agroclimatology and Phenology of the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Buenos Aires (FAUBA) stressed that the drought situation in Argentina is becoming more complex in the north and west of the Pampas, south of the coast, and in the northeast and northwest of the country.

According to the report published by the institution in early September, the southern winter of 2022 is considered “one of the driest in recent times,” causing a water deficit in the soil and already affecting the sowing of corn in the Pampas and sunflowers in the Chaco.

The country will suffer from a lack of rainfall and a rise in temperature, another consequence of the La Niña phenomenon.

María Elena Fernández Long, one of the report’s co-authors, told Argentina Forestal that below-average rainfall is expected in much of the country for the September, October, and November quarters.

In Brazil, the Brazilian Meteorological Institute had warned that the climate phenomenon would hit the country’s most productive areas in winter.

According to meteorological models and statements by Brazilian meteorologist Mozar de Araújo Salvador, La Niña will continue to have an effect in the spring, causing irregular rainfall in the extreme south of Brazil and impacting livestock and agriculture.

These sectors could be affected by the “excess heat that usually accompanies a lack of rainfall,” the expert predicted, adding that this will have “a double impact on the environment” that will have an economic impact.

In Uruguay, rainfall will be below average, so a water deficit is expected, especially in the southwest and east of the country.

As for the region, temperatures will be above average.