Expect more bad weather this month

Siau Ming En and Xue Jianyue Today Online 17 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE — Squalls off the Indonesian island of Sumatra led to wetter-than-usual weather earlier this month.

The adidas King of the Road run and the 8km race segment of the Kranji Countryside Run were cancelled last Sunday due to bad weather.

According to the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) forecast for the next two weeks, short-duration thundery showers, mainly in the late morning and early afternoon, can be expected on five to six days. Slightly hazy conditions can also be expected during periods of consecutive dry days.

The Meteorological Services said the recorded rainfall of 174.6mm last month was about 10 per cent higher than the long-term mean rainfall for the month of July, which is within “normal variation”. There was “above average” rainfall for the first two weeks of this month.

Organisers of outdoor events this weekend said they had prepared contingency plans in case of rain.

For the Nestle Omega Plus Aticol Love Your Heart Run today, organisers said ponchos will be prepared for participants in the event of light rain or drizzle.

Likewise, for the ComChest Heartstrings Walk 2013, its sheltered carnival will proceed tomorrow regardless of weather conditions, organisers said. But the event’s vertical marathon and 4km walk segments will be postponed if there is lightning or heavy rain, and cancelled if the bad weather persists half an hour past the scheduled time.