*3.1. Climate Model Validation*

This section validates the performance of CORDEX-RCM current climate data for the period 1976–2005. Results presented in Figure 3a,b shows that ensemble monthly historical RCM after bias correction mostly agreed with the observed precipitation and temperature in the catchment. The agreement between the simulated RCM climate and the observed indicated that CORDEX-RCM data after bias correction were capable of projecting future climate.

**Figure 3.** Olifants catchment current monthly climate (**a**) showing observed monthly South African Weather service (SAWS) precipitation plotted against the uncorrected historical ensemble precipitation from the Regional Climate Model (RCM) and the bias-corrected ensemble RCM for the period 1976–2005; (**b**) ensemble historical average monthly temperature against SAWS average monthly temperature.
