The Heat Wave Phenomenon Will Not Happen In Indonesia

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JAKARTA - The phenomenon of heat waves that hit a number of countries on the European continent is certain to not occur in Indonesia. This was conveyed by the Deputy for Climatology of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Herizal.

"In the territory of Indonesia, there is no weather phenomenon known as a heat wave. What is happening in the territory of Indonesia is daily hot temperatures," said Herizal as quoted by Antara, Sunday, August 1.

Herizal said the World Meteorological Agency reported the occurrence of a heatwave in the North American region that broke several record high temperatures, such as in the British Columbia region of Canada as high as 49.6 degrees Celsius and 47.7 degrees Celsius in Phoenix Arizona in mid-June 2021, which had a wide impact on the environment. human life and ecosystems.

In the first week of August 2021, Herizal said, there was a heat wave in Europe that was predicted to reach temperatures of 40 to 45 degrees Celsius in the Southern European region.

A heat wave or known as a "heatwave" is a weather phenomenon where the hot air temperature is 5 degrees Celsius higher than the average daily maximum temperature in the local area, and lasts for five days or more in a row.

Herizal said this heat wave phenomenon usually occurs in mid-high latitudes such as the Americas, Europe and Australia, and occurs in areas that have a large land mass.

In atmospheric dynamics, said Herizal, this situation can occur due to hot air trapped in an area due to an anomaly in atmospheric dynamics that causes the air flow to not move over a wide area, for example when a high pressure system is formed on a large scale and lasts long enough. long.

"Geographically, Indonesia's territory is in the equatorial region, so it has different atmospheric dynamics characteristics from the middle-high latitude region," he said.

In addition, said Herizal, Indonesian territory also has the characteristics of rapid weather changes. "With the differences in the characteristics of the dynamics of the atmosphere, it can be said that in Indonesia there is no weather phenomenon known as heat waves," he said.

He said that generally heat waves occur in tropical areas, which are caused by sunny weather conditions during the day and are relatively stronger when the apparent position of the sun is around the equator.

Based on the annual cycle, said Herizal, the apparent position of the sun is in the Northern Hemisphere (BBU) from March to mid-September.

"In this period, the easterly wind which is identical to the dry season occurs in most parts of Indonesia," he said.

Based on BMKG observations, the maximum temperature on July 30, 2021 was recorded between 24.0-35.5 degrees Celsius. "The maximum temperature of around 24 degrees Celsius occurred in the central part of Papua and the maximum reached 35.5 degrees Celsius occurred in Kalimarau, Berau," he said.

According to Herizal, the maximum temperature conditions with this range are still in normal conditions, where changes in the daily maximum temperature can still occur on a daily time scale depending on weather conditions or clouds in an area.

Until the end of July 2021, most of Indonesia's territory or more than 73 percent of the season zone is in the dry season. "Although there is still a chance for sporadic rain to occur in some areas, in general the cloud situation will be quite low during the day.

Herizal appealed to the public to continue to anticipate weather changes by increasing their immune system and maintaining the health of themselves, their families and the environment.