More rain ahead in Jakarta: Experts
More rain ahead in Jakarta: Experts
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta and its surrounding areas as well as West Java will see
more rain in the days ahead, experts say.
Researcher at the National Space and Aviation Agency (Lapan)
Erna Sri Adiningsih said on Sunday that day's satellite data
suggested clouds from the Indian Ocean in the South and around
the Philippine area in the North were moving across to Sumatra,
Kalimantan and the western part of Java.
She said a monsoon in areas between the Philippines and
Sulawesi was likely to cause denser cloud coverage to the south
in the next few days.
"The sun is in the northern hemisphere now. This has created
lower pressure areas around the Pacific Ocean and the Philippines
and higher temperatures. Extreme pressure differences caused a
monsoon in the area, which in turn caused heavy cloud coverage,
rain and lightning in several areas, including West Java and
Jakarta," Erna said.
The rain could also be blamed on the unusually high
temperature of the sea's surface in the south, which produced
denser cloud coverage and in turn created rain, she said.
"We call the anomaly a negative Dipole Mode Event, caused by a
monsoon and the intense rays of the sun. The Indian Ocean is
warmer than usual. This will last for months, possibly as late as
September or October," Erna said.
Erna said two phenomena had caused rainfall to be 15 percent
heavier than normal:
The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) previously said
the dry season would start in Jakarta in April and end in
November. In June and July, however, sudden copious rainfall has
been regular, causing floods in the capital.
Heavy and continuous rain last Friday evening flooded the
city's thoroughfares, causing traffic jams until late at night.
Last week, the BMG said this year's dry season was much like
the usual wet season as cloudbursts had been common.
The BMG's head of meteorological information Achmad Zakir said
rain would fall at least until the end of July as besides the
cyclone in the north, the temperature of the sea's surface was
similar to that of the rainy season.
He said rain would fall in southern, central, and eastern
parts of Jakarta in the afternoon, while rain would fall in
Bekasi and Bogor in the evening.
Achmad predicted medium to heavy rainfall with lightning in
the evening and light rain in the morning.
He said the western part of Java, particularly Bandung, Merak,
Serang, and Cilacap, as well as several parts of Sumatra, would
continue to have rain until the end of July.