BMKG Affirms Tornado In Rancaekek Not Tornado, Wind Speed 36.8 Km/JAM

The condition of the building was severely damaged due to a tornado on Jalan Raya Garut-Bandung, Bandung Regency, West Java, Thursday (22/2/2024). (ANTARA/Rubby Jovan)

BANDUNG - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Bandung Station conveyed that the strong wind phenomenon that occurred in Rancaekek, Bandung Regency and Sumedang Regency on Wednesday (21/2) was not a tornado category, but a tornado.

Head of the Class 1 Geophysics Station of Bandung BMKG Teguh Rahayu explained that the tornado phenomenon has a power scale rotating at a speed of less than 70 kilometers per hour.

"As for the tornado phenomenon, the wind speed is more than 70 kilometers per hour. Yesterday afternoon, the wind speed was recorded to be automatic weather station (AWS) for Jatinagor at 36.8 kilometers per hour," said Teguh as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, February 22.

He said hurricanes formed from a cumulonimbus cloud system that had characteristics would cause extreme weather.

The phenomenon of tornadoes in the waters and it can be seen from radar. While the tornado that we can see is the growth of cumulonimbus clouds," he said.

According to him, tornadoes can occur in a short period of time with a general duration of less than 10 minutes. Even so, not every time there are cumulonimbus clouds, there can be a tornado phenomenon.

"Cumulonimbus cloud growth must trigger rain. And one of the impacts of extreme weather is this tornado," he said.

Teguh said the tornado itself had more powerful intensity with wind speeds of up to hundreds of kilometers per hour with a very large dimension of up to tens of kilometers.

"The tornado must have an impact of more than 10 kilometers, while yesterday's incident I think was only 3 to 5 kilometers of impact," said Teguh.

His party appealed to anyone with an interest not to use terms that could cause a stir in society. Enough with the terms that have been understood by most people in Indonesia.