Talk radio braces farmers for a 'Godzilla' El Niño

Across late May and early June 2026, South African talk radio converged on a single weather story: the return of what climatologists were calling a potentially record-breaking El Niño, with implications for agriculture, water security and household budgets from September onwards. 702 and Cape Talk led the coverage, repeatedly bringing climatologists into studio to translate Pacific sea-surface warming into what it means for Highveld maize farmers and Western Cape winter rainfall.

The framing on air was cautiously alarming. Presenters pressed experts on whether this was a 'Godzilla' or 'super' El Niño, while climatologists from Northwest University and the University of Pretoria urged listeners to watch two indicators above all: soil moisture and mean temperatures. The reassuring note was that good rains earlier in the season had left dams and soils in healthy shape; the worry was what happens if the event stretches across two seasons.

Power FM widened the lens to the economics, noting that even forecasters who normally avoid the weather were being forced to price in an El Niño summer for the maize planting season.