REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MAJALENGKA -- A number of regions in Indonesia still have to endure the scorching heat from this year's long dry season. The highest maximum temperature in this year's dry season in Majalengka Regency reached 38.7 degrees Celsius. The maximum air temperature was recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) of Kertajati Meteorological Station, Majalengka Regency on 9 October 2023.
According to Acting Head of BMKG Kertajati Meteorological Station Ahmad Faa Iziyn, the temperature even ranked the highest of the monitoring results in 20 BMKG stations across Indonesia. “During the dry season this year, the temperature of 38.7 degrees Celsius last week was the highest in Majalengka,” the man commonly referred to as Faiz said on Monday (16/10/2023).
Not only this time, based on surface weather observation data at Kertajati Meteorological Station, Majalengka, during the period 1978-2022, the average maximum temperature in Majalengka Regency is in the range of 38.6-40 degrees Celsius. It occurs in September to November. “The record highest temperature in Majalengka Regency, which reached 40 degrees Celsius, occurred on October 12, 2002,” Faiz said.
Faiz revealed that the maximum air temperature in Majalengka Regency at this time has begun to decrease, namely in the range of 37 degrees Celsius. He estimated that from mid-October, most of the Majalengka region will enter a transition/pancaroba period from the dry season to the rainy season. “There started to be a growth of (overcast) clouds that could potentially rain,” Faiz said.
While the beginning of the rainy season 2023/2024 for Majalengka Regency, it is forecast from November base I to November base III (the 21st of the end of the month).
The BMKG says that the rainy season in Indonesia will generally occur later than usual. As for the end of the rainy season it is the same as normal, thus making the duration of the season shorter than usual. “However, even if the rainy season is not as long as normal conditions, the amount of rainfall in the rainy season that is predicted to occur will be the same as normal,” said the Head of the Applied Climate Information Service Center, Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan, when contacted by Republika, Tuesday (17/10/2023).
However, the diversity of the climate in Indonesia causes the beginning of the rainy season not to occur simultaneously at one time throughout Indonesia. Based on BMKG monitoring until the beginning of October 2023, as many as 11 percent of the 699 Season Zones (ZOM) in Indonesia have entered the rainy season.
“The regions that are experiencing the rainy season include most of Aceh, North Sumatra, most of Riau, most of West Sumatra, Bengkulu, a small part of West Kalimantan, a small part of North Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, a small part of Maluku, part of West Papua and part of Papua,” he said.
Next, Ardhasena said, the rainy season will occur in central and southern Sumatra, followed almost sequentially by Borneo and Java. Then it will gradually dominate almost the entire territory of Indonesia in the period from March to April 2024. BMKG also estimates that the peak of the 2023/2024 rainy season in most parts of Indonesia, exactly in 385 Season Zones, is forecast to occur in January and February 2024. When compared to the normal peak of the rainy season, the peak of the 2023/2024 rainy season in most regions is forecast to be equal to the normal, namely 351 ZOM (50.21 percent).
The other regions that are forecast to retreat towards normal are 203 ZOM (29.04 percent), and advance towards normal by 145 ZOM (20.74 percent). Speaking about the duration of the 2023/2024 rainy season, in most regions or 430 ZOMs (61.52 percent) are forecast to occur over 10 to 24 basarians (a 10-day span). Compared to normal, the duration of the 2023/2024 rainy season in most regions of Indonesia is forecast to be shorter, which is 439 ZOM (62.80 percent).
“Meanwhile, other regions are forecast to be longer than normal, which is 91 ZOM (13.01 percent) and is forecast to be the same as normal, which is 44 Season Zones,” Ardhasena explained.
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