La Nina Could Increase Rainfall by 70 Percent, BMKG Warns

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) on Friday issued an early warning on La Nina, which the agency warns could affect Indonesia’s weather pattern, as its weather detection system spotted growing cooling anomaly of sea surface temperature in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

“It has exceeded the La Nina occurrence threshold,” said BMKG Head Dwikorita Karnawati in Friday’s national coordination meeting on October 29.

In September, she said, the cooling anomaly reached minus 0.63 and gradually increased to 0.92 in October. It can be confirmed to be a moderate La Nina once its numbers reach minus one.

BMKG believes the complex weather phenomenon will last until February 2022. Similar forecasts are also backed by weather observation agencies in the United States, Australia, and Japan. The direct effect of La Nina is that it causes an increase in rain intensity by 20-70 percent above normal levels. 

Indonesian regions that could be affected by the weather include South Sumatra, Java-Bali, Nusa Tenggara, southern parts of Kalimantan, and South Sulawesi.

Read: La Nina Is Coming, BMKG Warns of Extreme Weather

FAJAR PEBRIANTO