More rain, thunderstorms expected in second half of September: Met Service

Channel NewsAsia 16 Sep 16;

SINGAPORE: The second fortnight of September will see higher rainfall compared with the first half of the month, said Meteorological Service Singapore on Friday (Sep 16).

It added that strong solar heating of the land could give rise to thunderstorms on five to seven days, mostly in the late morning and early afternoon.

Daily maximum temperatures on most days are likely to range between 32°C and 33°C, the Met Service said. On rainy days and especially during the night, the daily minimum temperature is forecast to be cooler than normal and range between 22°C and 24°C. The total rainfall for September 2016 is expected to be above normal.

The Met Service added that prevailing southwest monsoon conditions are forecast to persist for the rest of the month. During this period, the low-level winds are expected to blow mainly from the southwest. It added that the presence of low-pressure systems like tropical storms in the nearby region could also cause winds to turn to blow from the west on some days.

'SQUALLY WEATHER' IN FIRST HALF OF SEPTEMBER: MET SERVICE

Singapore saw some "squally weather" in the first half of September, said the Met Service, noting that on a few days, squall lines that developed over Sumatra or the Strait of Malacca passed over Singapore, bringing widespread thundery showers and gusty winds in the pre-dawn hours and morning.

Arising from the squally weather, the Met Service logged the heaviest rainfall on Sep 14 over the Paya Lebar-MacPherson area - a total of 86.6mm of rain. It observed that overall, most of the thundery showers in the first half of the month fell in the late morning and early afternoon, and were due to strong solar heating of land areas.

The agency added that rainfall was slightly above normal over the central and western parts of Singapore. The highest rainfall of 128.9mm (54 per cent above average) was recorded around the Paya Lebar area, it said. Rainfall was lowest around Sentosa island where 39.8mm (53 per cent below average) was recorded.

The lowest daily maximum temperature recorded was 29.4°C on Sep 12 when rain fell over the island from the early morning and eased off in the later part of the afternoon. The lowest daily minimum temperature recorded ranged between 21.9°C and 25.8°C.

Singapore also saw a few warm days at the beginning of September, where the highest daily maximum temperature recorded was 34.2°C.

- CNA/xk