This Year's Rainfall Lower Than in the Last 30 Years

The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG) predicts that the average rainfall during the 2026 dry season will be lower than the average over the past 30 years. “With average rainfall below normal compared to the dry seasons over the past 30 years, conditions this year will be lower or below normal,” said BMKG Head Teuku Faisal Fathani during a press conference on the coordination meeting for forest and land fires in Jakarta on Monday (6/4). BMKG also predicts that the dry season this year will start earlier and last longer, beginning in April or May, peaking in August. “The dry season will arrive faster and longer. We will enter the dry season starting in April or May, peaking in August, then ending in September or early October,” said Teuku Faisal Fathani. Meanwhile, BMKG is also monitoring the El Niño phenomenon in Indonesia. “The El Niño we are monitoring is currently still weak to moderate,” he said. The Ministry of Forestry is collaborating with BMKG to prevent forest and land fires (karhutla) during the dry season. One of the efforts is rewetting peatlands using BMKG’s Weather Modification Operations (OMC). “We are carrying out preventive efforts, trying to do rewetting when we still have clouds that we can seed, with seeding materials then causing rain that can moisten peatlands so that the potential for forest and land fires can be suppressed as much as possible,” said Teuku Faisal Fathani. (Ant/P-3) The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG) predicts that Indonesia has the potential to experience a drier dry season in the second semester of 2026 along with the weak El Niño phenomenon.