BMKG: Drought Dominates Indonesia Region June-September 2024

JAKARTA - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicts drought will begin to dominate Indonesia's territory in mid-June September 2024.

Head of BMKG Dwikorita Karnawati said the condition was marked after 19 zones per cent of Indonesia's territory had entered the dry season; starting from parts of Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, West Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta.

The BMKG Meteorology Team revealed that some other areas in Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara will also enter the dry season in the next three bases or 30 days. This is based on the results of an analysis from the BMKG team which was found that Bali, Java and Nusa Tenggara have now experienced days without rain for 21-30 days or longer than before.

BMKG concluded that the drought conditions during the 2024 dry season will dominate Indonesia until the end of September. "So, preparedness from the Central Government and the Regional Government urgently needs to be carried out because in other parts of Indonesia, some time in the future it will experience rain that has the potential to have an impact on wet hydro-meteorological disasters, such as floods, flash floods, lava floods and landslides," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, May 28.

BMKG has reported the weather and climate forecast to President Joko Widodo so that the risks and impacts caused can be anticipated and minimized as little as possible.

The BMKG Meteorology Team has mapped areas with a very low monthly rainfall potential with a category of less than 50mm per month that needs special attention for mitigation and anticipation of the impact of drought.

The areas include most of the islands of Sumatra, Java, West Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, Bali and Nusa Tenggara, parts of Sulawesi Island, and parts of Maluku and Papua.

He said, taking into account the latest dynamics of the short-term atmosphere, there is still a very short time window that can be utilized optimally before entering the middle period of the dry season.

He recommended the application of weather modification technology for reservoir filling in areas that have the potential to experience dry conditions during the dry season and wet or raise groundwater levels in areas prone to forest and land fires (Karhutla) or on peatlands need to be done early.