Don: Rainy spell will move east

KUALA LUMPUR: The excessive rainfall in recent days, especially in the Klang Valley, is due to the impact of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) phenomenon, says an expert.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Climatology and Oceanography specialist Prof Dr Fredolin Tangang said the country was currently in the midst of the South-west monsoon season, and the weather should be hot and dry.

“MJO occurs as a result of the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere, causing large-scale convection in the western part of the Indian Ocean,” he added when asked to comment on the massive rainfall occurring in the Klang Valley in the late afternoons.

The US-based Climate Prediction Centre revealed in a report that the MJO phenomenon would occur in the Indian Ocean with a large-scale increase in atmospheric convection in the first week of this month.

“However, this situation will only last for another one to two weeks, when the phenomenon moves more towards the east,” Dr Fredolin said. — Bernama