The Jakarta Post 6 Jun 10;
Ready your parasol and poncho, because Jakarta has more rainy days ahead. The city’s meteorological agency expects the current wet weather will persist until late June as the city enters a transitional period between the wet and dry seasons.
An official from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said that the current cloudy weather would persist, with dense cloud coverage and monsoon downpours descending upon the city quickly and sporadically over the next couple of days.
“This year’s dry season will be wetter than the previous year’s. We are experiencing a kind of climatic anomaly,” said Erwin Makmur, head of the agency’s climate early warning department.
The weather anomaly, he added, had pushed back the dry season from April or May to July or August, adding that the dry season would reach its peak in September.
He said the anomaly was being caused by warmer than normal sea surface temperatures in the Java sea caused by warm currents from eastern Indonesia.
The warmer water is causing more water to evaporate and then condense into clouds, he added.
“Indonesia’s high humidity levels, coupled with the sun’s strong heat are increasing the amount of water vapor in the air that leads to downpours,” he told The Jakarta Post.
Jakarta’s weather is affected by water temperatures in Jakarta Bay to the north. Thirteen rivers run through the city, including the Ciliwung, Pesanggrahan and Sunter rivers, which can cause severe flooding during times of heavy rain.
By Friday noon, heavy rain had caused severe inundation in some parts of the city, causing massive traffic jams that halted thousands of cars attempting to leave the city on Friday night.
On Saturday, some parts of the Pondok Ranji turnpike in Bintaro, West Jakarta, were inundated in 150 centimeters of water.
As a result, traffic from Bumi Serpong Damai in southern Jakarta was diverted by police to the Jakarta-Merak toll-road causing heavy traffic. Hundreds of motorists bound for Jakarta parked their cars near two train stations in Serpong and boarded economy-class trains to Jakarta.
Surti Woro, a resident of Semarang, told the Post she had spent three hours on a shuttle bus from Bumi Serpong Damai to Senen train station to catch a 7:00 p.m. train to Semarang on Saturday.
Friday’s traffic snarls were repeats of road chaos last month, when heavy downpours caused severe traffic on the city’s main thoroughfares as flooded streets brought cars to a stand still and motorcyclists took shelter under bridges, blocking traffic. Lack of green spaces and a insufficient sewerage have been blamed for such severe inundations.
Heavy rain usually follows hot mornings or afternoons, Erwin said, adding that morning temperatures were higher than normal due to environmental changes.
“The city has less open and green areas, which have been replaced by glass and steel structures that reflect sunlight. The number of vehicles on the roads and buildings that emit hot air from their air-conditioners also contribute to the rising temperature,” he said.
The anomaly is not due to global climate change, but climatic variations, he added. (gzl)
