City to face bad weather during transitional span

City to face bad weather during transitional span

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta residents will experience drastic
climatic changes during the transitional period before the dry
season, which begins end of April, an official said on Friday.

Waan Tarmin, a staff member at the public information
department of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), said
the city would be dominated by mostly hot weather and brief
showers during the transitional period, which starts within the
next few days.

"The weather will become hotter because the earth's
temperature heats up due to the lack of clouds which protect the
earth from the sun's direct rays," he told The Jakarta Post.

Waan said the condition was also influenced by the declining
ocean temperature in the western part of the country from
between 27 and 28 degrees Celsius to between 22 to 25 degrees
Celsius.

"Since its temperature is lower than that of the earth's,
which is between 32 to 33 degrees Celsius, the water evaporation
process is hampered, causing a delay in the configuration of a
cloud," he said.

The official said such conditions could last for about a month
before the dry season, which runs from the end of April until the
end of September.

Recently, the weather in the city has been noticeably changing
each day with people suffering from unbearable heat with no
clouds in sight. Sometimes there are brief intervals of rain,
such as what happened in several areas on Friday.

The city had an unusually rainy wet season over the past three
months, resulting in floods in several parts of the city.

Separately, the head of the city health agency, Achmad
Harjadi, warned city residents of developing possible illnesses
during the upcoming transition.

"Possible illnesses during this period will mainly affect our
respiratory system, like coughs and flu. That's why people should
pay more attention to their body, as it is the only way to avoid
respiratory problems during the transition," he told the Post.

Achmad said the respiratory system was the main part of the
body which was directly related to the intake of air, "so when
the humidity changes during this period, the first part of our
body which will be affected is our respiratory system".

Waan said BMG, however, had predicted that the upcoming dry
season would not be so hot and that there would still be the
occasional rain. (ind)