Bad Weather, One Flight To Labuan Bajo Diverted To Lombok

One flight to Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), was diverted to Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), due to bad weather and heavy rain.

Head of the Komodo Labuan Bajo Airport Organizing Unit (UPBU) Ceppy Triono said heavy rain with visibility or visibility was only one kilometer and wind up to 25 knots/hour which made Garuda and Super Air jets have to wait to rotate or hold in the area around the airport in order to land.

"Earlier, the Super Air Jet plane decided to divert (transfer) to Lombok Airport, but now it has flown again from Lombok to Komodo Labuan Bajo Airport," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, July 30.

He explained that the Garuda airline plane had landed at Komodo Labuan Bajo Airport safely, even though it had tried to land twice.

Meanwhile bad weather has hit Labuan Bajo City for the past two days, with strong winds and heavy rain occurring on Tuesday afternoon.

Head of Komodo Meteorological Station Maria Patricia Christin Seran said the weather in West Manggarai Regency in the dry season in recent days tends to be cloudy or cloudy and has the potential to rain.

Rain that falls in the dry season is often caused by the phenomenon of atmospheric waves. Currently, atmospheric waves that are active in the NTT region are Rossby Waves.

This wave is formed due to the Earth's rotation that affects the air currents in the atmosphere. Rossby waves move from east to west and can change the airflow, causing a shift in weather patterns.

This Rossby wave has the characteristics of bringing wet air masses so that an area is often hit by rainy or cloudy conditions.

In addition, he said, the Rossby Ekuator Wave can also cause light to heavy rain, even though it is in the dry season.

Usually this phenomenon can generally last 7-10 days in Indonesian territory, depending on the speed of wave movement and other atmospheric conditions.

"For the West Manggarai area and its surroundings, it is estimated that this condition will continue until August 3, 2024, with an overview of weather conditions generally cloudy and potentially rainy," he said.