Bogor Named as Indonesian Region with Most Thunder Strikes

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) thunder researcher Syarif Hidayat said that Bogor is the Indonesian region with the highest occurrence of thunder strikes.

“According to the thunder strike density I once measured in Bogor, it showed that the region experiences 24 thunder strikes per square kilometer each year,” said Syarif.

Compared to other regions in Indonesia’s West Java regions, Syarif’s research showed that Bandung’s thunder strike statistics was 10-12 thunder strikes per square kilometer. In comparison, the region in the United States with the highest occurrence of thunder strikes is in Florida, which is half of what Bogor experiences.

“We have relatively higher amounts of thunder strikes, especially in regions that are physically inclined in between the sea and summit,” said Syarif on Monday, April 16.

According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Chief of weather prediction and early warning system Ramlan, Bogor’s highlands and the frequent cumulonimbus clouds that often formed there have caused a significant amount of thunderstorms in the region. 

BMKG revealed that the occurrence of thunders in Bogor and Depok are considered as two of the highest in Indonesia. As the statistics in 2016 show, both regions were hit by roughly 700,000 thunder strikes.

Anwar Siswadi