New Straits Times 27 Jan 14;
KUALA LUMPUR: The ongoing cold weather that has caused shivers among Malaysians in some parts of the country may not result in heavy rains.
Malaysian Meteorological Department director-general Che Gayah Ismail said there was no indication of heavy rain in the next few days.
"The department is closely monitoring the weather changes and if there is an indicator, we will issue an advisory," she told The New Straits Times.
She said the standard operating procedure was to issue an advisory between 24 and 48 hours before such an event.
"We are still in the northeast monsoon period and it is normal to experience a few episodes of heavy rain."
On the possibility of heavy rains causing floods, she said it depended on the monsoon surge.
On the changes in temperature, she said Kuala Krai in Kelantan broke the record with its temperature dropping significantly from the 32oC on Jan 7 to 17.2oC on Jan 22.
Several countries in the region were also experiencing colder weather, with northern Vietnam snowing last month and Thailand's capital, Bangkok, hitting 15oC.
A local daily reported an oceanographer had advised Malaysians to watch out for heavy rain that could cause floods in the next few days following the cooler weather.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's Institute of Geospatial Science and Technology Associate Professor Dr Maged Mahmoud Marghany said the cold monsoon wind could get trapped in the warm atmospheric front once it hit the land mass in the east coast, Sabah and Sarawak.
He said in June 2006 forest fires in Indonesia resulted in increased humidity and heat in the atmosphere and due to the slow, weak wind above Johor, the heat hovered in the area during the monsoon season.
When the cold northeast monsoon wind converged with the heat, it resulted in heavy rain and floods in Johor, the state nearest to the forest fire, he said.
According to a statement in the Meteorological Department's website, January and February are when the minimum temperatures are relatively low compared with that of the other months.
The cooler than normal temperature in most areas, especially in the eastern and northern areas of the peninsula, was due to the strong north-easterly winds from mainland China, which was currently experiencing winter.
In addition, less cloud coverage throughout the peninsula this week also helped to lower the temperature at night and in the early morning.
Based on the weather conditions and wind direction for the next few days, the cooler weather was expected to continue until early this week.
