Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Rainfall to be above average this Chinese New Year, says MSS

SINGAPORE — Expect a windy, rainy Chinese New Year period, with a monsoon surge forecast to affect the region, bringing with it widespread rain and occasionally windy conditions.

TODAY file photo

TODAY file photo

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — Expect a windy, rainy Chinese New Year period, with a monsoon surge forecast to affect the region, bringing with it widespread rain and occasionally windy conditions.

The Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) said this today (Feb 1) in its fortnightly forecast, and also pointed out that last month was the warmest January on record.

In the first fortnight of this month, short-duration thundery showers, mostly in the afternoon, are expected on four to five days. The showers may be heavy at times on days when there are convergence of winds, coupled with strong solar heating of land areas, the MSS said. Rainfall for these two weeks is expected to be slightly above average, although warmer temperatures Singapore has experienced in the past few months are expected to continue, the agency added. 

During these two weeks, the daily maximum and minimum temperatures could reach as high as 34°C and 27°C, respectively, on some days.

In its review of January, the MSS said there was “significantly warmer than usual conditions”. The average daily maximum temperature (31.6°C) and average daily minimum temperature (26°C) for January were 1.2°C and 2.1°C above their respective long-term means.

“The mean monthly temperature of 28.2°C for January marks the warmest ever January since temperature records began in 1929, surpassing the previous record of 28.0°C set in January 1998,” the MSS said.

“This follows the warmest December on record the previous month. December and January are climatologically the coolest months of the year.” 

This is despite showers on many days in January, albeit with below average rainfall. Most showers were due to strong solar heating of land areas and convergence of winds in the vicinity of Singapore, it said.

For the whole of January, the north-eastern part of Singapore around Sengkang had the lowest rainfall — 56 per cent to 62 per cent below average. Conversely, the western part of the island around Jurong saw the highest rainfall — 9 per cent to 59 per cent above average. 

The thundery showers were heaviest on Jan 22 where the highest total daily rainfall recorded was 78.8mm around the Kent Ridge area.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.