South Africa’s 2015 Rainfall Lowest on Record

South Africa’s 2015 rainfall was the lowest since records began in 1904 as the El Niño weather pattern continued to cause dry conditions across the region.

Precipitation was 403 millimeters (15.9 inches) last year, 34 percent below the 112-year average of 608 millimeters (23.9 inches), the Pretoria-based South African Weather Service said in an e-mailed statement Jan. 14, updating data published the day before. It was the fourth consecutive year of below-average rainfall, the longest streak since the 1940s.

The country is in the grip of a drought caused by El Niño, resulting in dry conditions in the whole sub-Saharan ...