Statistical-empirical models were developed to investigate how global rainfall predictors relate to the March-May (MAM) and September-October (SON) rainfall seasons over southem Ethiopia.Such information can be crucial for early warning of socio-economic disasters associated with extreme rainfall anomalies over the study area.In this study the relative importance of oceanic and atmospheric influences on extremes, long-term trends, and seasonal to interannual variability and predictability of precipitation in observations and reanalysis data were investigated.