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December is synonymous with the rainy season, but this year the weather feels different. Photo/SINDOnews
JAKARTA – December is synonymous with the rainy season, but this year the weather feels different. Even until the middle of this month it was actually hot.
Dr Erma Yulihastin, Principal Research Expert in Climatology, Center for Climate and Atmospheric Research (PRIMA) of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) said that most of Java experienced dry days without rain or dry spells as El Nino peaked.
“From there, dry weather conditions occur in the rainy season,” said Erma Yulihastin in a tweet on social media X, Monday (18/12/2023).
According to him, this condition is also caused by the intrusion of dry air masses from the Indian Ocean south of Java and Australia during summer.
Recorded data in the last five days shows that the Newsdelivers.com area did not experience any rain. This shows that dry spells have consistently occurred.
“The impact of El Nino is increasingly felt in December-January because the sea surface temperature cools until the thermocline layer near Papua only forms in December. This is in contrast to the warming temperatures in the Pacific Ocean,” he explained.
The same condition also occurs in the neighboring country, the Philippines. Renato Solidum Jr. Secretary of the Philippine Department of Science and Technology even predicts that the hot conditions that occurred in December 2023 will continue until May 2024.
According to him, as many as 66 provinces in the Philippines were affected by this condition. “So, basically, other areas of the country will experience drought,” explained Renato Solidum Jr.
He said that the impact of El Nino has now been felt and experienced in several areas of the Philippines with a decrease in rainfall of up to 80%. Based on current conditions, there is a possibility of moderate to severe drought from February to May 2024.
Solidum warned that there are indications that this strong weather phenomenon is “comparable” to the El Nimno event of 1997 to 1998, which is considered the worst El Nino event in the world.
(wib)