BMKG Forecasts High Waves, Heavy Downpour Today

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) maintained the previous weather forecast that sea waves as high as 4-6 meters are possible to occur today, April 29, in Indonesian waters.

On the first collective leave day of Eid al-Fitr as set by the government, the weather would surely affect the Eid homecoming or mudik traffic on various routes and modes of transportation.

The agency also predicted moderate to heavy rain on the west coast of Bengkulu, Lampung, Banten, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, and East Java.

The potential waves and rains were due to the presence of a 98S tropical cyclone in the Indian Ocean south of Central Java - East Java. This cyclone seed induced low-level jets in the Indian Ocean south of Bali-West Java, forming a convergence area that was observed to extend in the Indian Ocean south of Bali-West Java.

“This condition is able to increase the potential for rain cloud growth, wind speed, and sea wave height around the tropical cyclone and along the low-level jet and convergence areas,” as quoted from the agency’s weather warning.

A 98W tropical cyclone was also observed in the South China Sea. "The impact in Indonesia is estimated to be moderate to heavy rains in North Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, and Central Sulawesi."

Additionally, cyclonic circulation was detected in the western part of the Java Sea. Other convergence areas were observed extending across the Bangka-Belitung Islands, in the Java Sea, in West Java, in East Java, in the Makassar Strait, in Central Sulawesi, in the waters of Sorong, in West Papua, and in Papua.

BMKG thus concluded that those phenomena could boost the potential for rain cloud growth, especially thunderstorms in Bengkulu, Yogyakarta, Jambi, Surabaya, Pontianak, Tarakan, Pangkal Pinang, and Kendari. Gorontalo was also likely to see heavy downpour.

Read: Light Rain, Thunderstorm Forecasted to Hit Jakarta Today: BMKG

MARIA FRANSISCA LAHUR