Crops · dekad 2026-09-01

South Africa

South Africa is 24th most stressed of 26 observations for this point in the season, and 1st steepest fall of 26, but from the 1st highest starting level of those 26, so it is not a record fall once that is accounted for. None of its 10 crop regions is at a record low on the measure that adds up the whole season, marked below, which is also the slowest of them to move.

What moved, and when

Each square is one dekad, and its shade shows how many of this country’s crop regions stood at their own worst on record for that point in the season. Rows are ordered by how much time each instrument summarises, shortest first, because a shorter window can move sooner. That order is fixed and is the same on every country page.

These 25 dekads were picked rather than derived. A shorter window changes which peak looks like the first, and a sequence visible inside a window may not exist outside it.

How bad is it, against this country’s own record

What the instruments say

The canopy is in its best third, as are water satisfaction and rainfall.

Each track is that instrument’s own 26 years, worst on the left.

Five instruments, each against its own 26 years for this point in the season. They are shown together because they can disagree: a region can sit at a record low on vegetation while water or rainfall sits in its best third. 66 of the 440 regions at a record low on current vegetation have water or rainfall sitting in its own best third at the same moment, about one in seven. This page reports where each one sits and does not say what caused what.

Every region of South Africa, worst to least

Each bar is the full spread of that region’s previous 25 years at this point in the season. The dot is this year. A dot at the left of a wide bar and a dot at the left of a narrow bar are different findings, which is why the history is drawn rather than described.

Regions in colour are at their worst on record. The rest are placed on the same scale so a single deep region inside an otherwise ordinary country reads differently from a country where the whole distribution has moved.

This measurement is of the crop canopy and not of what stressed it: heat, drought, disease and late planting are not separable here, which is why no claim on this page names a cause.