PETALING JAYA: There will be a variety to weather patterns but Malaysians can always expect the monsoon to come, says Universiti Malaya’s Prof Datuk Dr Azizan Abu Samah.

       He said the monsoon weather would continue to occur, but it could either come earlier or later.

       “You cannot really pin it down since it is a novice monsoon. Our monsoon will always be there but it comes with the element of unpredictability and uncertainty.

       “During La Nina, more rain is expected, 20% more than the normal average. The climate model cannot predict with certainty when this happens,” he said.

       He added that the International Panel of Climate Change did note that there would be more rain due to climate change.

       “In Malaysia where 2,000mm of rainfall in a year is expected, it is more important to know how to tackle the excess water,” said Prof Azizan.

       Meanwhile, extreme weather and lightning expert Hartono Zainal Abidin said we could continue to expect more adverse weather during the La Nina phenomenon.

       However, he said it was important for the Meteorological Department to give fair warning to the public ahead of freak storms or unruly weather.

       “The Met Department should raise the alarm and avoid what happened during the floods in Selangor.

       “I noted that there was a weak cyclone that stayed on the Selangor coast which caused the heavy rains.

       “What we are seeing in Kelantan and Terengganu is also caused by very weak cyclone conditions, so there is a lot of moisture dropped around the east coast, which could be seen on the weather map radar.

       “Again the Met Department was reluctant to give an early warning,” he said.

       He said it was better for the public to be alarmed at the beginning rather than suffer later causing rescue operations, loss of property and late evacuation.