GEORGE TOWN: With the weather taking sudden turns within hours – from intensely torrid to bouts of strong winds and rain – people are bound to be confused.
However, Universiti Sains Malay-sia’s Environmental Technology division head and atmospheric physicist Assoc Prof Dr Yusri Yusup said it is not out of the ordinary.
“In the larger scheme of things, based on past years, this is an annual occurrence. The weather will be dry, and then a bit wetter during this period.
“It is not out of the ordinary when we look at the bigger perspective of yearly data,” he said.
Assoc Prof Yusri said we are now heading for the end of the north-east monsoon season. “Even when it is supposed to be dry on the West Coast, some of the East Coast rain can spill over into the Penang region, resulting in mild rain.
“This happens yearly. Although strong winds do not occur so often here compared with the East Coast during the north-east monsoon, there will be sporadic rain based on the wind patterns,” he said.
“In the next three days, it is going to rain sporadically here and then it will stop before the actual rainy season returns,” he added.
He said as March draws nearer, the transitional monsoon period between the north-east and south-west monsoons will happen, yielding unpredictable thunderstorms.
“The transitional monsoon is in March and April and the south-west monsoon begins in May.
“Looking at wind patterns during the transitional monsoon, winds are low in speed and so the clouds will linger, giving more rain,” he said.
The Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia), in a statement on Feb 8, said weak La Nina conditions (cooling of ocean surface temperatures) are present and will continue with a probability of 67% until March.
“Weather conditions in the peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak are expected to be humid throughout the forecasted period,” it said.
Strong winds in the state on Tuesday were caused by cumulonimbus clouds, which brought about mild thunderstorms, said the Penang MetMalaysia department.
Heavy rain and strong winds, which hit several areas on Penang Island at about 5pm on Tuesday, uprooted trees and ripped off a few roofs, but no injuries or casualties were reported.