South Africans can expect a hotter summer than usual, with the South African Weather Service (SAWS) forecasting "above-normal" minimum and maximum temperatures in the months ahead. 

This could put pressure on the country's already strained power grid as the need for cooling increases, it warned. Other countries have already experienced this as heat waves struck the northern hemisphere this year.

The SAWS further warned farmers in key areas should take precautions such as conserving water. 

The weather service issued its seasonal forecast for SA this week, for the months from September 2023 to January 2024. The El Niño weather phenomenon - associated with warmer, dry conditions in southern Africa - is expected to persist in most of the summer months. 

The local forecast comes amid warnings from the World Meteorological Organization that globally, El Niño, along with climate change, would usher in new, record-breaking temperatures in the next five years (2023-2027).

El Niño also generally increases global temperatures in the year after it develops. 

'Great deal of uncertainty'

Despite the warning of hotter temperatures, it is still not clear what the full impact of El Niño on South Africa will be.

Current global forecasts indicate a great deal of uncertainty for the typical drier conditions that South Africa experiences during an El Niño.

The weather service expects above-normal rainfall for most of the country from mid to late spring. However, it does not expect this to have a major impact on the water levels of most dams.

Water levels, in areas like the Northern and Eastern Cape, that are still experiencing long-term drought conditions, may also face water loss through evaporation linked to the above-normal temperatures, it explained.

But the above-normal rainfall will bode well for crop and livestock production in the northeastern parts of the country.