ALIZA SHAH AND BALQIS NASIR New Straits Times 6 Mar 14;
EQUINOX EVENT: Inter-monsoon will cause huge change in weather patterns
KUALA LUMPUR: THE Meteorological Department forecasts heavy rain from March 21.
Its commercial and corporate services division director, Dr Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip, said the inter-monsoon season would cause immense change in weather patterns.
Weather patterns, he said, were highly influenced by the position of the sun, especially during the inter-monsoon, where the sun was closer to the equator.
He said this phenomena, known as the equinox, would cause the atmosphere to be unstable and active.
"Presently, the sun is located in the southern hemisphere, causing more weather changes and rain there," he said, adding that this biannual phenomena occurred in March and September.
The inter-monsoon season, which was expected to end in April, would produce between 200 and 300 millimetres of rain water per month.
Hisham said no heavy rain was expected until the end of this week and there would only be isolated showers nationwide.
He added that cloud seeding would be postponed till next week since the clouds as wind patterns were unsuitable.
"Strong winds up to 20 knots are expected to continue until the end of this week. This situation is not favourable for cloud seeding, in addition to the cloudless situation."
Drainage and Irrigation Department's Water Resources and Hydrology division director Datuk Hanapi Mohamad Noor confirmed that the amount of rainwater was sufficient to improve water levels at dams to normal.
He said as long as the amount of rainwater was above 200mm, it would enable the dams to supply sufficient water and resolve the water crisis.
Water rationing in Selangor following the dry spell started on Feb 27, affecting more than 60,000 people in 71 areas in Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat and Sepang.
The disruption was said to be triggered by the closure of the Cheras Batu 11 and Bukit Tampoi water treatment plants due to ammonia pollution in Sungai Langat since Jan 28.
The second phase of a month-long water rationing started on March 2 affected some 2.2 million users in the Klang Valley.
The rationing was to reduce the release of water to 200 million litres per day in Sungai Selangor dam, and 30 million litres per day from the dam in Klang Gates, which saw water supply cuts on two-day intervals in Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor and Hulu Selangor districts.
In Kluang, water scheduling was applied after the water level at the Sembrong Timur Water Treatment Plant plunged below average levels.
The water scheduling was introduced on Feb 18 and is expected to last until March 31.
Second cloud seeding fails to improve water levels in dams
New Straits Times 6 Mar 14;
KUALA LUMPUR: The second cloud seeding carried out on Tuesday did little to improve water levels at critical dams in the Klang Valley.
Drainage and Irrigation Department's Water Resources and Hydrology division director Datuk Hanapi Mohamad Noor said only Tasik Subang dam showed a slight increase of 0.02m while the other dams recorded a slight drop in their water levels.
"There was no major increase in water levels at the dams in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur since the cloud seeding focused only on the southern part of the peninsula," he said.
Hanapi said even though another five dams -- Klang Gates, Sungai Selangor, Semenyih, Batu and Langat -- recorded a slight drop in water levels, it was not as significant as what had happened during the critical dry spell in last month.
He said the decrease was primarily because of the demand for water had surpassed the amount of collected rainwater in the catchment areas.
The second round of cloud seeding was conducted in parts of Malacca, Negri Sembilan and Klang Gates in Hulu Klang.
The operation, which began at 3.40pm, took an hour covering Alor Gajah and Durian Tunggal in Malacca, which then concentrated on Tampin, Rembau, Seremban and Semenyih in Negri Sembilan, followed by the Klang Gates Dam in Hulu Kelang.
However, it was successful only in Seremban where the rain lasted for more than one hour.
Two-and-a-half tanks of salt solution were used in Malacca and Negri Sembilan while 11/2 tanks were used in Hulu Kelang.
