KUCHING: The state is expected to have cold and rainy weather until March next year. This is due to the monsoon transition phase.
According to the weather forecast on the Malaysian Meteorological Department’s website, the rainy weather will include thunderstorms over inland areas in the evening and at night.
“The monsoon transition phase begins on Sept 24 and is expected to continue until early November this year, and the beginning of this phase marks the end of Southwest Monsoon which has started since May 18.
“During this period, the sky is usually clear in the morning and areas in the region of the country will receive weak winds from various directions conducive to the formation of thunderstorm clouds in the afternoon,” said a statement issued by METMalaysia for its weather review on their website.
METMalaysia also states that during the transitional phase of the monsoon, the usual weather conditions are thunderstorms and heavy rains with strong winds in a short period of time especially in the evening and early night. This is expected to take place in most areas along the west coast and inland of the Peninsular Malaysia, west of Sabah and western and central Sarawak.
As for Heavy Rain Warning, the conditions are categorised into three levels, and is classified as continuous heavy rain that is expected to occur for more than six hours with an expected total rainfall of at least 60mm during the period
For Level 1 – Yellow (Beware), it is when continuous heavy rain is expected to occur within the next one to three days, or ongoing rain is occurring but has not yet reached the level of continuous heavy rain yet.
As for Level 2 – Orange (Bad), this is when rainfall is expected to reach continuous levels of heavy pouring whereas for Level 3 – Red (Dangerous), it refers to when rainfall is expected to reach continuous heavy pouring with total rainfall exceeding 240mm per day.
