Brace Yourselves: BMKG Predicts the Longest Dry Season in the Last 30 Years

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG) predicts that the dry season in Indonesia will arrive earlier, from April to June 2026. “In general, nearly 50 percent of Indonesia’s seasonal zones will enter the dry season earlier, around April,” stated BMKG Head Teuku Faisal Fathani at the Parliamentary Complex in Jakarta on Monday (14/4/2026). The peak of the dry season is expected in August 2026, with several areas at risk of drought. “The peak of the dry season will be in August, where the majority of regions in Indonesia will experience their peak then,” Faisal said. “Thus, the dry season in Indonesia will arrive slightly earlier, making it longer and drier compared to the 30-year climatological average,” he added. Therefore, he called on the government to begin mitigating the potential impacts of the dry season. One of the risks is drought, which typically occurs in areas south of the Equator. “This is what we are trying to do to increase our overall preparedness; we mitigate so that the government is ready to avoid or reduce the occurrence of drought,” Faisal explained. “For land and forest fires, there are six provinces most affected: Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan,” he noted. Although the dry season is predicted to be long this year, he explained that rain will still fall, albeit with low intensity. “So, will there be rain during the dry season? Yes, there is a possibility of rain, but not more than 150 millimetres per month,” Faisal said. He explained that Indonesia has hundreds of seasonal zones with varying characteristics, leading to differences in the timing of dry season onset. “We have 699 seasonal zones, and they will enter differently due to various conditions related to global atmospheric patterns, local conditions, geography, and so on,” he continued.