February Potentially Heavy Rain, DKI Provincial Government Modifies Weather

Illustration of weather modifications (doc. BPBD Jakarta Provincial Government)

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) carried out weather modification operations (OMC) for two consecutive days. OMC was carried out in line with the potential for heavy rain that occurred in early February.

Chairman of the DKI Jakarta BPBD Logistics and Equipment Subgroup Michael Sitanggang said the implementation of OMC which was carried out on the first basis of February 2025 was an effort to reduce disaster risk due to extreme weather.

"The potential for moderate to heavy rain to occur must be a concern in order to reduce disaster risk," Michael said in his statement, Monday, February 3.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicts that the rain that has occurred in the past two days tends to be mild to moderate, with the wind from the northwest. It is predicted that the rain will last until February 4.

Plt. Director of BMKG Weather Modification Governance, Budi Harsoyo, revealed that there is a potential for a significant increase in rainfall in the Java region, due to an increase in air humidity in Indonesia as a result of strengthening the Asian Monsun and the cold surprise phenomenon identified as being in the significant category and the influence of the La Nina phenomenon.

For the tropics, the weak-state La Nina phenomenon tends to increase rainfall. In addition, the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) phenomenon, which is active today in western Indonesia, along with other equatorial atmospheric waves such as Rossby Ekuator and Kelvin, supports the formation of convective clouds that have the potential to trigger heavy rains, "explained Budi.

In addition, cyclonic circulation patterns were detected in several locations, such as the Karimata Strait, Halmahera Sea, Arafuru Sea, to the Indian Ocean south of Java, also increasing the chance of high rainfall in the region.

"So that high and extreme rainfall in several areas of Java, including DKI Jakarta, needs to be considered, especially in determining the points of seeding," he said.

On Saturday, February 1, centered at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, using a Cesna aircraft belonging to the Indonesian Air Force with the number of flights considering the weather forecaster and BMKG flight scientist. OMC activities will take place every day from 07.00 WIB to 17.00 WIB.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, February 2, OMC took place once and again by seeding 800 kg of NaCl salt with a particle size of 30-40 microns.

In the implementation of the DKI Jakarta BPBD OMC in collaboration with the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) and PT Rekayasa Atmosphere Indonesia (PT RAI).