Jakarta in for another lashing of bad weather this weekend

Weather Agency Predicts Whirlwind to Hit Jakarta

Jakarta Globe | May 06, 2011





Officials at the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency asked the people of Jakarta to stay alert as it was possible a whirlwind would hit the capital in coming days.

“One of the symptoms of a whirlwind is the cumulus nimbus clouds, or the sudden appearance of black clouds, like what happened on Thursday,” said the head of BMKG's climate change and air quality center, Edvin Aldrian, as quoted by Mediaindonesia.com.

A whirlwind is likely to hit Jakarta and its satellite cities anytime from now until the weekend, Edvin said.

“The intensity of the whirlwind is small but still, we have to remain alert,” he said, adding that Jakarta had experienced heavy rainfall over the last few days because it was entering a wet period and would enter a dry period in 30 days.

“This is the impact of the Madden Julian Oscillation cycle, which is an extreme weather cycle that oscillates every 30 to 40 days. The cycle triggers heavy rain for days,” he said.

Meanwhile, on its Web site BMKG said that heavy rain would fall in Jakarta on Friday and Saturday.