Rainy season starts for real in Jakarta

Rainy season starts for real in Jakarta

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Having endured hot days for the last two weeks due to clouds
over the South China Sea blocking the air mass that was to have
brought rain to Java, Jakartans have been experiencing rainy days
since Tuesday.

"For the next six days, Jakarta will experience rain of an
intensity mostly from light to medium," said Achmad Zakir, chief
of the weather forecast division at the Meteorological and
Geophysics Agency (BMG), on Wednesday.

He said that spells of heavy rain would be interspersed with
intervals of light and medium rain, although only for short
durations, such as an hour. He added that the sun would still
shine through for certain periods, mostly in the mornings.

Zakir said that this week the rain would be accompanied by
lightning and strong winds.

He also rejected the possibility of an early dry season.
"There have been no major occurrences to cause serious
distortions to the weather patterns, so the rainy season is
coming."

"The rains have started to fall and will continue until they
reach their peak in February," he said.

So Jakartans, especially those who live in flood prone areas,
are advised to remain alert for the possibility of flooding.

Particularly because Bogor, West Java, is expected to
experience heavy rains early next month.

"Over these past few days Bogor has suffered scorching heat.
According to our records, on Monday, Jan. 20, the highest
recorded temperature was 34.6 Celsius. However, we have forecast
that heavy rains will fall in Bogor in early February," said
Widiastuti, chief of the climatology station at the Bogor office
of the BMG.

Because numerous rivers originating in Bogor flow through
Jakarta, heavy rain there usually causes floods in several areas
of Jakarta, especially those near the rivers.