Indonesia's Hot Weather Is Not Heatwave, Says BMKG

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Scorching hot weather that has recently hit Indonesia is not a heatwave, said Dwikorita Karnawati, the head of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG). Based on the agency’s analysis, this phenomenon could not be categorized as a heatwave.

"It's true that a heat wave is currently hitting various Asian countries, such as Thailand with a maximum temperature reaching 52°Celsius. Cambodia where the air temperature reached the highest level in the last 170 years at 43°Celsius this week. But what is happening in Indonesia is not a heatwave, but the usual hot temperatures,” Dwikorita said as quoted from a press release on Monday, May 6.

She explained that the country’s warm seas and mountainous topography resulted in increased air movement. Thus, the buffering of extreme temperature rises may occur with rains that periodically cool the surface, preventing heat waves from hitting the archipelago.

The current hot temperatures are the result of surface warming due to reduced cloud formation and rainfall. This is also common during the transition from the rainy season to the dry season.

“This transition period is generally characterized by sunny mornings, hot afternoons with rapid cloud growth accompanied by an increase in air temperature, and then rain in the afternoon until evening,” Dwikorita said.

At night, if the sky remains overcast with high temperatures and high humidity, the hot weather may persist and gradually turn cold as rain falls, she added.

Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan, deputy for climatology at the BMKG, said that the highest maximum air temperature in Indonesia during the last week was recorded in Palu at 37.8° Celsius on April 23.

IRSYAN HASYIM (CONTRIBUTOR)

Editor's Choice: Today's Weather Forecast for Greater Jakarta: BMKG

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News