Mon, 08 May 2000

More rain to come, BMG official predicts

JAKARTA (JP): Expect more rain. That's the prediction for the coming week in many areas across the country.

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) head of public relations, Waan Tarmin, said that the current bout of wet weather was a natural phenomenon during the transitional period before the start of a dry season.

"The precipitation is caused by the high effectivity of the warming of the Karimata Straits, the Java Sea, and the Indian Ocean which forms a lot of clouds," Waan said.

According to Waan, Sumatra, the western part of Java, West Kalimantan, the northern part of East Kalimantan, most of Sulawesi Island, north Maluku and most areas in Irian Jaya are likely to see more moderate to heavy rain, albeit not as heavy that which hit the capital last week.

There were reports of heavy rain last week in several areas in Bandung regency which flooded thousands of houses, in Kendari which ruined vegetable plantations, and in Surabaya which damaged the tobacco harvest.

Waan also said that the agency's latest biannual weather forecast predicts that most areas in the country will have a 'wet' dry season this year.

It was expected to come as early as April, due to the rain- inducing phenomenon La Nina.

When asked about the heavy thundershower which hit Jakarta on Thursday, Waan said that there is little chance of a recurrence in the near future.

"Such strong storms occur so rarely...So, Jakartans need not worry about it."

Thursday, rain and thunderstorms uprooted several trees, and broken branches littered busy roads.

Waan said the phenomenon was generated by the forming of a cumulonimbus cloud at a very high altitude.

The cloud formed at the wind shift point above Jakarta. There was a high level of turbulence and that generated a high level of friction among the ions of the cloud.

Waan said that the Agency could only forecast such phenomena six hours in advance.

"It's so very little time to inform the mass media, that's why we only provide information to the airlines."(08/ind)