Increased chances of normal to above-normal rainfall are expected for Namibia from October to March 2017. Nampa reports that the SADC Secretariat has issued a statement after the 20th Annual Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum. Weather experts from the country and other SADC member states attended the event held in Harare, Zimbabwe, last week. The meeting concluded that most parts of the region were likely to receive normal to above-normal rainfall during the October-March period as the main rainfall season over most of southern Africa. Climate scientists took into account oceanic and atmospheric factors that influence the climate over the region, including the La Niña, which brings wetter than normal conditions, and often leads to extensive floods. The long-term mean for December-January-February rainfall show above 600 millimetre rain over much of Malawi, Zambia, Angola, the southern half of the Democratic Republic of Congo, central and northern Mozambique, Mauritius, Madagascar and The Seychelles. The statement says the rest of SADC will receive less than 400 millimetres, gradually decreasing south-westwards to southwest South Africa and Namibia, where the mean rainfall is below 100 millimetre. The January-February-March period shows a significant reduction in the rainfall received in most of the southern parts of the region with the central and eastern parts remaining wet.