Most parts of the drought-hit northern Kenya are unlikely to receive any rain this weekend.
This is according to a new forecast which shows rains will spread to the rest of the country this weekend.
This means hunger and death of livestock will continue in northern parts of Kenya.
The five-day forecast, shared by head of Meteorological Department Stella Aura, also shows temperatures will remain high until Monday.
“Most parts of the country are likely to be sunny and dry," she said.
"However, rainfall is expected over a few areas in the highlands west of the Rift Valley, the Lake Victoria basin, the central and South Rift Valley, the highlands east of the Rift Valley (including Nairobi county), the south-eastern lowlands and Northeastern Kenya,” she added.
Aura said strong winds will continue in North-western and Northeastern Kenya.
At least 2.5 million people are facing drought in the country, and are relying on food donations for survival.
Earlier this week, Public Service, Gender and Special Programmes CS Margaret Kobia said the National Treasury is in the process of releasing Sh1.2 billion for food distribution in the month of November to 23 ASAL counties.
She spoke during a media briefing on the drought situation after holding a consultative meeting with development partners in the ASAL sector working group in Kenya.
Kobia said there will be no food distribution to the affected areas in December, but instead the government will give cash of Sh3,000 per household per month.
On September 8, President Uhuru Kenyatta declared the drought affecting parts of the country a national disaster.
To adequately address the impending crisis, the CS said the government has identified priority needs in key sectors amounting to Sh7.3 billion.
"This will cover the costs of delivering food and safety needs, livestock, health and nutrition, agriculture, education and water for the period ending December 2021," Kobia said.
The CS said eight counties are in alarm drought phase. They are Garissa, Isiolo, Lamu, Mandera, Marsabit, Tana River, Turkana and Wajir.
"A further 12 counties are on the brink of sliding from alert to alarm phase. Forecasts show that there will generally be depressed rainfall across all ASALs and a highly depressed rainfall in the north-east of Kenya between now and December," she said.
Kobia has said that as part of action to respond to the national disaster, the multi-agency team put in place measures to ensure that citizens of the affected counties are urgently supplied with food and other commodities to sustain their livelihoods.
Source: The Star