The rains failed last year and the rains before that were meager. Lifestock have died. Crops have failed.
Famine threatens Somalia for the second time this decade.
"While drought is not uncommon in this dry region, it has gotton worse."says University of California at Santa Barbara, the climate scientist, Chris Funk.
"Yes, SO what we've seen [in]OVER the last, SAY, 35 years is that the rainfall during what's called the long rainS, has declined substantially."
Funk says [this]THE explanation MAY lies in [the]AN atmospheric cycle that links [the] East Africa and THE Pacific ocean.
Warm, WET air riseS OVER [from] the western Pacific causing rain [falling on the]OVER Southeast Asia.
On the other side of the cycle, dry air descends [in]OVER East Africa. That's why [there is] not [enough]MUCH rain[fall] FALLS HERE [in East Afria] even [during]IN [the] normal [rain time]YEARS.
BUT When the [weather in East Pacific gets warmer] WESTERN PACIFIC IS WARMER, [the entire atmospheric system gets harder] IT PUSHES THE WHOLE SYSTEM HARDER: [the rainfall in Southeast Aisa will be more, and the dry air in East Africa will be more].MORE RAIN OVER SOUTHEAST ASIA, AND MORE DRY AIR DESCENDING ON EAST AFRICA.
More dry air means more drought.
