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SINGAPORE: After a wet and cool start to the year, the second half of January is expected to be generally dry and warm with maximum temperatures of about 34 ° C in a few days.
Daily highs in the next fortnight are also expected to hover between 32 and 33 ° C on most days, the Singapore Meteorological Service (MSS) said on Friday (January 15).
On most days of the second half of January, daily temperatures are forecast to range between 24 and 33 ° C.
“It is expected to be warm with daily maximum temperatures around 34 ° C on days with little or no rain and when the winds are light,” MSS said.
Short-term stormy rains can be expected due to strong diurnal warming of land areas mainly in the afternoon in parts of the island on some days.
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With stable atmospheric conditions arising from the presence of a dry air mass over the equatorial region of Southeast Asia, Singapore can expect fair and occasionally windy conditions within a few days, MSS said.
While rains for the second half of the month are expected to be below normal, MSS added that overall rains for January 2021 are forecast to be well above normal due to exceptionally wet weather in the first half of the month. month.
The prevailing northeast monsoon season is also forecast to continue through the remainder of January with low-level winds blowing from the northwest or northeast.
JANUARY REVIEW
In the first half of January, the northeast monsoon conditions prevailed over Singapore and the surrounding region. During this period, the low-level winds blew mainly from the northeast.
The weather during the first half of January was wet and cool due to a surge of monsoon winds from the northeast, also known as a monsoon surge. This took place in the equatorial region of the South China Sea on January 1-2, and again on January 8-13.
The New Year’s weekend storm surge event brought widespread, sometimes heavy rains over the island, MSS said.
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The highest daily total precipitation recorded in the first two days of the year was 147.3 mm at Upper Changi Road East and 210.6 mm at Changi Weather Station.
Total precipitation at the weather station on January 2 was slightly less than the record for a January day at 216.2 mm on January 30, 2011.
The second monsoon surge event began on January 8 and persisted over the equatorial South China Sea for the following days before moderating on January 13. rainy weather during the period.
MSS said it was particularly windy with continued, sometimes heavy rains over the island on January 10. The highest daily total precipitation of 204.0 mm recorded during the six-day storm surge event was on January 10 in Changi.
In the Changi weather station, the total precipitation in the first two weeks of this month was 648.4 mm, which places January 2021 as the wettest January in the last 30 years. This exceeds the 600.9mm recorded in January 2004.
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According to long-term statistics, MSS said that the total rainfall from January 2021 to date of 648.4 mm also ranks January 2021 as the second wettest January since Singapore’s rainfall records began in 1869. January wettest ever recorded in Singapore is January 1893 with a monthly total of 818.6 mm.
MSS data also showed that the first half of January this year was also exceptionally cool due to the cloudy and rainy weather that arose from the two monsoon storm events.
The daily maximum temperature was below 30 ° C every day of the fortnight except January 5, January 6 and January 14.
The daily minimum temperature dropped to 23 ° C and lower in the first five days of the year. The lowest daily minimum temperature in the first half of the month was 21.1 ° C, recorded on January 2 in Newton.
It was also relatively windy in the first half of the month.
At the Changi Weather Station, wind gusts of up to 46.9 km / h were recorded on January 12 during the second monsoon storm surge event. The highest wind gust ever recorded in January at Changi Weather Station was 73.4 km / h.
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The highest maximum wind gust recorded across the island in the first two weeks of the year was 70.2 km / h at Admiralty on January 12.
MSS added that Singapore also received significantly above normal rainfall in the first half of January with the highest anomaly being 511 percent above the average recorded in Changi. The anomaly was lowest in Jurong with 153% above average.
